THIS refusal always seemed to be a case of when rather than if.

When 5,500 oppose something and only 11 show their support, it gives you an idea of how against the prospect of fracking people in Sussex are – especially within the boundaries of a National Park.

The most pertinent line to come out of the meeting was that energy firms should be using National Park land as a last resort, not a first point of call. Legislation was put in place to keep these areas green, tranquil and unscathed.

Shoving a 45m drill rig in the middle of one hardly falls in line with the notion of these supposedly beautiful pieces of land.

But what’s unfathomable is that if Celtique Energy appeal, the decision will lie with Secretary of State Eric Pickles whose Conservative party is the driving force behind fracking in the UK. A report such as this would not have come cheap and residents’ lives have been swallowed up with uncertainty while they waited for the decision.

Yet it could all be in vein if the Government want to steamroll ahead with the plans anyway. As almost every opposing speaker acknowledged yesterday – there is an energy crisis. But drilling in our most protected areas of land clearly isn’t wanted in Sussex.