Cuadrilla suspends work at West Sussex protest site Protesters against fracking outside parliament in London in December 2012 Cuadrilla, the fracking company, is temporarily suspending operations in the West Sussex village of Balcombe as anti-shale protesters gear up for a campaign of "mass civil disobedience" near its drilling site. The move shows the oil and gas explorer responding to mounting public pressure over its drilling activities, amid an intensifying national debate about the pros and cons of fracking for shale gas in the UK. Cuadrilla has been beefing up security at its Balcombe site, which already resembles a heavily fortified encampment. On Thursday, workmen were erecting 3.5m tall metal fences topped with razor wire around the drilling rig, with G4S guards providing additional security. Workers seemed bemused by the intensity of the opposition. "At first it was all very good-natured - just villagers holding tea parties outside the gates," said one. That changed late last month, he said, when a wave of hardened campaigners turned Balcombe into the front line of their war on fracking. Now Cuadrilla is battening down the hatches. After taking advice from Sussex Police, it says it will "scale back" operations in advance of weekend rallies by the group No Dash For Gas, which is planning what they described as a "mass swoop" on the company's facility. "During this time our main concern is the safety of our staff, Balcombe's residents and the protesters following threats of direct action against the exploration site," it said in a statement. Luke Johnson of Reclaim the Power, one group behind the forthcoming protests, said Cuadrilla had finally got the message. "People from all over the country are waking up to the danger and joining forces to fight Cuadrilla and the government that is protecting them," said Mr Johnson. But ultimately the move could be little more than a tactical retreat. Cuadrilla is determined to complete its exploration programme in Balcombe, despite local resistance, and says it will resume operations here "as soon as it is safe to do so." Since setting up shop on the outskirts of this picturesque Sussex village earlier this summer, Cuadrilla has become a lightning rod for public disquiet over fracking, the contentious shale gas extraction technique opponents say can ­poison water supplies and boost greenhouse gas emissions. For an industry used to working in deep oceans, Arctic wastelands and ­African jungles, drilling in a Sussex field may seem a doddle. But the strain on Cuadrilla staff from running the daily gauntlet of angry residents is taking its toll. "You get a lot of verbal abuse as you come in and out: people right in your face filming you - it's intimidating," said one Cuadrilla employee. The irony is that the company might not even find oil in sufficient quantities to warrant full-scale production here. Cuadrilla is about half way through drilling a 3,000ft exploratory well at the site. It will then determine whether the rock contains oil in producible volumes. ConocoPhillips, which drilled here in 1986, decided it did not, upped sticks and left. And, even if Cuadrilla does decide to go ahead, it will take time to get all the necessary permits, says one employee. "If you look at the planning process for actual production, it's a matter of years, not months or weeks," he said. That, says Mr Johnson, is "subterfuge." "Cuadrilla could drill as many as 1,200 wells in the licence area they hold," he said.