Local campaigners took to the streets on Sunday (27 September) to join a multi-county protest against the proposed Peak Cluster CO2 pipeline.

Members of Friends of the Earth Chester and District took part in the 'PipeWalk' organised by campaign group Action Against CCS, as simultaneous walks took place across Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire.

Formed in January, the campaign group said "serious questions" remain about Peak Cluster and its environmental, financial, and health and safety impacts.

During the 'PipeWalk' - which featured a tractor convoy, a motorcade, and a rocking horse - local supporters walked a section of the proposed route between Capenhurst and Christleton.

Peak Cluster is a proposed carbon capture and storage scheme which aims to transport carbon dioxide captured from four cement and lime producers in Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

The planned underground pipeline would run for around 120 to 125 miles through Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Wirral before carrying the captured carbon dioxide offshore for permanent storage beneath the Irish Sea.

In a statement, Action Against CCS said the proposed route would cut through "highly sensitive" landscapes, including those of Special Scientific Interest.

The group argued these sites are not "expendable corridors", but rather "legally protected environments of national importance".

They added: "The disruption, excavation, and permanent presence of infrastructure through these areas pose a clear and irreversible threat to biodiversity, habitats, and ecological stability.

"Environmentally, this project does not represent genuine decarbonisation. It risks prolonging reliance on high emission industrial processes under the guise of mitigation.

"It diverts focus and funding away from sustainable alternatives and creates long term infrastructure with uncertain liability and monitoring burdens."

The statement added: "There remain serious questions surrounding the Peak Cluster proposals, including pipeline safety, emergency planning, environmental impacts, the short and long-term financial implications for the taxpayer and the fact that no similar schemes have ever captured the volumes of CO2 or created the number of jobs that the industry claim."

Members of the Cheshire West & Chester Green Party also joined the walk with hundreds of other Action Against CCS supporters along the route. Representatives from the local party added that the project is "a potential environmental disaster and must be stopped."

Because the project is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), it bypasses standard local planning rules.

Cheshire West and Chester Council does not have the power to approve or reject the scheme directly; instead, the final decision rests with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero via a Development Consent Order.

A formal consultation focusing on pipeline infrastructure and access layouts across Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire will launch this November, followed by a Wirral-specific review in January.