Council planner backs fracking at one Lancs site

LANCASHIRE Council planners say fracking should be allowed at one of two sites on the Fylde coast.

In a long running and controversial saga over energy firm Cuadrilla’s application to explore for shale gas in the county, the local authority’s most senior planning officer has approved a scheme at Little Plumpton, but not Roseacre Wood.

The final decisions will be taken by councillors next week. If approved, it will be the first time a council has backed an application to frack, drill and test flow the gas.

It is the first time fracking has been recommended for approval since a ban on the practice was imposed in 2011 when Cuadrilla caused tremors after fracking near Blackpool.

Council officials said the Roseacre site should be rejected because lorries to and from site would have a “severe” impact on road safety.

Cuadrilla submitted revised plans after planning officers recommended refusal for both sites in January for different reasons. Planning officers had previously said the site at Preston New Road should be turned down because of concerns over the impact of noise.

But now they have recommended its approval if a number of conditions are met, including controlling time limits, hours of working and highway matters.

At the Roseacre Wood site, planning officers maintained there would be an increase in traffic, particularly heavy goods vehicles, which would result in “an unacceptable impact” on rural roads.

Fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – is a technique in which water and chemicals are pumped into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas.

A government report published in June 2012 concluded fracking was safe if adequately monitored.

However, anti-fracking campaigners claim the process is harmful to the environment.

In a statement, Staffordshire -based Cuadrilla said it was “pleased” at the Preston New Road decision but disappointed at the Roseacre Wood recommendation that it be rejected.

“For our application at Roseacre Wood we supplied additional information regarding traffic routes which we and our expert advisers believe addressed issues which were raised in the officer’s report in January.
“Whilst we remain confident that our original proposed route was adequate, the alternative route suggested also met with all necessary guidelines in our view.

“We are disappointed that officers do not  support this in their negative recommendation today, however we are pleased to note that as with Preston New Road, they are satisfied with all other aspects of the Roseacre Wood planning applications. We will await the councillors’ decisions on both these applications at the end of June.”

Babs Murphy, chief executive of North and West Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and a member of the North West Energy Taskforce, welcomed the development.

She aid: “Shale gas represents a huge economic opportunity for Lancashire firms not only in terms of winning new business but also creating new jobs and generating new market opportunities.  If Cuadrilla is successful in obtaining the relevant permissions for the Preston New Road exploration programme, opportunities for local suppliers are likely to start at a modest level, but the scale of this could soon expand if results from the test wells are positive and the company seeks to move to natural gas production in the county.

“It is up to all of us to work together to keep as much of these economic opportunities here in Lancashire.”