Fracking site extension refused

The firm that operated a highly controversial fracking site in Fylde has been told that it cannot have another two years to restore the plot – after it emerged it had not made proper use of a previous extension.

Cuadrilla began test drilling on land off Preston New Road in Little Plumpton in April 2017 after the government granted permission for a project that had been rejected by Lancashire County Council two years earlier.

One of the conditions of the work was that restoration of the site – which attracted a near-permanent presence from anti-fracking campaigners during its operation – was completed by June 2023.

However, as that deadline approached, the company requested – and received – approval from the local authority for the timeframe to be extended until June 2025 in order to enable the land to be maintained for a 12-month period of “environmental monitoring”, as required under an Environment Agency permit.

But this summer, it asked for permission to have a further two years to complete the site’s restoration to its previous use as a farm.

Lancashire County Council’s development control committee has now dismissed the latest bid for a time extension after hearing that work to plug and decommission the two wells that had been dug on the site only took place this spring – just weeks before the expiry of the revised deadline Cuadrilla had been granted in 2023.

Committee member Adrian Owens said that was evidence that the company had failed to act “in good faith”.

“When they came for a two year extension, you would have thought they had everything lined up, ready to go, the moment they got that approval…[but] they hadn’t done any of that,” County Cllr Owens said.

County council planning officials had recommended the application be refused on the basis that it would not be in keeping with a requirement to “secure the restoration of the site at the earliest opportunity”.

Committee members heard from 10 speakers opposed to the extension, who laid about a litany of reasons why it should be denied – several of whom said Cuadrilla should face meaningful sanctions for any further delay.

Fylde West division county councillor John Singleton said it was “completely and utterly absurd” that more time was being requested.

“Something different has to be done in order for this company to comply,” he suggested, adding that “financial penalties” should perhaps be considered.

“I fear in another two years, you’ll be [asked] for a further two years,” County Cllr Singleton said.

Nick Danby, from campaign group Frack Free Lancashire, said that the current government’s intention to permanently ban fracking – following on from the previous government’s imposition of a moratorium on the process in 2019 in the wake of earth tremors associated with activity at the Preston New Road site – meant that “there can be no grounds for Cuadrilla’s continued presence” at the location.

He criticised the county council for having previously “indulged [the company] at every turn”

“There is little point in setting planning conditions if there is no intention to enforce them,” Mr. Danby said.

Helen Rimmer, from Friends of the Earth, said it should be made clear to Cuadrilla that they are “at risk of prosecution” for future breaches.

The time extension granted in 2023 had come with a requirement for six-monthly reports on progress, but the meeting heard that that had not been sufficient to ensure that the deadline was met.

Questioned by committee member Hamish Mills about the possibility of taking enforcement action against Cuadrilla, county council planning officer Flo Churchill said it could be viewed as “unreasonable” if it was done within a year, because of the fact that the firm did still need to meet the Environment Agency permit rules for monitoring of the site to take place for 12 months.

Committee member Clive Balchin expressed “some sympathy for [the company] in the way that they have been commercially degenerated by governments of various hues over the years”.

However, he added that was a “rules is rules man – if you agree to do something, you do it to the best of your ability and stick to it”.

To applause from those opposed, the committee unanimously rejected the application.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service approached Cuadrilla for comment on the decision and the issues raised at the meeting.