At least 16 of the signatories of a pro-shale letter said to have come from Lancashire business leaders want their names to be removed, according to a survey.
The letter, co-ordinated by the North West Energy Task Force (NWETF), urged Lancashire County Council to approve Cuadrilla’s planning applications to drill, frack and test for shale gas at Roseacre Wood and Preston New Road.
The NWETF said more than 100 business leaders from across the North West region had signed the letter.
Text from the letter from the NWETF
But Frack Free Lancashire revealed yesterday (16th November 2015) it had discovered that some signatories to the letter were never asked if their details could be added and some were opposed to fracking.
Frack Free Lancashire (FFL) said it uncovered the information during a phone survey of a third of the businesses on the list.
FFL’s Gail Hodson, who discovered the errors, said:
“Given the widespread anti-fracking sentiment in the community alarm bells rang when we saw this list. We easily found out that many had not agreed to be on this list – or had never heard of it. Perhaps most interestingly, others, still, were actually against fracking.”
The letter was published on 8th January 2015, a fortnight before council planners released their report on Cuadrilla’s applications. The planners recommended both applications be refused because of night-time noise. They also said the Roseacre Wood plans should be refused on traffic and road safety grounds.
Later that month, Cuadrilla asked the council’s development control committee to defer decisions on both applications while it provided additional information about dealing with these problems. In June this year, the committee refused both applications and Cuadrilla is now appealing against the decisions.
Of the 40 businesses surveyed, FFL said 16 asked to be removed from the letter. Of these:
- 9 said they did not support fracking
- 1 had signed a letter from more than 300 businesses opposed to fracking
- 3 were not aware they were signatories
- 2 were neutral about fracking
- 1 was owned by a supporter of fracking but he did not want to be included on the letter
FFL said 11 businesses surveyed supported fracking and 13 were not contactable after three attempts. Among those who were not contactable were two with out-of-use numbers, FFL said.
FFL said the signatories included Steve Thompsett, of Capita. When contacted, Capita Group said:
“Even while employed by Capita, Steve Thompsett was not an authorised ‘spokesperson or representative’ for Capita and any views they have expressed are personal and in no way representative of Capita.”
FFL also quoted Kaz Bhai, of Shipping and Trading Co, Manchester, who said:
“I do not support fracking, I don’t know why I am on the NWETF list of business’s supporting fracking and I would like to be removed from the list.”
And Benjamin Riley, the drector at Thermal Hire Ltd, in Wigan, said:
“North West Energy Task Force have rung me and I told them I do not want to be on their list”.
Another person on the list, who did not want to be named, said:
“I attended one meeting (with many other training providers such as Blackpool and Fylde and Preston college) where we discussed the training opportunities that may arise out of fracking. That has been my only involvement and should not have been construed as support on my part or the College. I’m doing my best to get my name off the list. The College is not taking an official position either way but I am certainly not in support from a personal point of view either.”
A spokesperson for NWETF said Kaz Bhai and Benjamin Riley have since been removed from the list.
Furqan Naeem, north west Campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said it was “shocking” that NWETF had claimed to have support of businesses for fracking without their consent and had tried to use this to influence Lancashire County Council.
“At best this is incompetence. North West Energy Task force should immediately correct their claims about local businesses who support fracking and ensure the accuracy of future statements”
“It is no surprise that many Lancashire businesses oppose fracking, which even the Government’s own draft report found could impact negatively on industries that are important to Lancashire, like farming and tourism.”
Lee Petts, managing director of Remsol and a member of NWETF, said:
“I was a signatory to this letter, and I recall very vividly how it was necessary to confirm my willingness to be portrayed as such by sending a confirmatory email.
“It is my understanding that all signatories had to do this, using the email mechanism provided.
“My own experience of having to confirm my inclusion as a signatory suggests that Frack Free Lancashire may not have been in possession of all the facts when issuing this press release.”
We asked NWETF, which is supported by Centrica Energy and Cuadrilla Resources, to comment on the survey findings. It made this statement:
“Following the publication of the North West Energy Task Force letter to the editor [of the Blackpool Gazette] on 8 January 2015 none of the signatories raised concerns about their name appearing in support of shale gas.”
“We are concerned that members of the public are being intimidated by Frack Free Lancashire for their support of shale gas. We call on Frack Free Lancashire to respect people’s right to have their own views.”
“If anyone contacts NWETF directly asking to have their name removed from our list of supporters, we are happy to do so, in the same way that I am sure Frack Free Lancashire would remove supporters if they so request”.
- In March, Greenpeace reported that less than half of the 343 small and medium sized enterprises listed as supporters on the NWETF were based in Lancashire. At the time, 14 businesses on the list were from the Fylde, the district where Cuadrilla has applied to frack.
Post updated on 18/11/15 to include additional quote
Categories: Opposition
DRILL OR DROP? 
Can you actually beleive anything from fylde anti-frackers? They simply give mis-information
Don’t worry Amber Dudd is riding to the rescue. Watch in awe as the Secretary of State takes aim and shoots herself in the foot, again.
Oh Michael – you can’t just come here and make sulky comments and expect to be taken seriously now. You have to support statements like that with evidence you know
The real question that this raises is “Can you actually believe anything from the North West Energy Task Force?”
One of its panellists, Lee Petts, admitted today that the named high profile panellists do not perform the “day-to-day mechanics” of the NWETF,
When asked who did perform those functions, Lee referred me to the Morning Star website which carries a story about Westbourne Communications and an alleged astroturfing exercise involving students. Various employees at Westbourne have references to working with the NWETF in their Biographies and there are no contact details for any individual directly on the NWETF web site, which suggests that they would prefer us not to know who actually runs the show.
I have been told today that invites to NWETF events were sent from Westbourne Communications email addresses, so a reasonable conclusion is that the company who proudly state they “shit up” any opposition by using “insurgency tactics” have a part in administering if not running what looks increasingly like a front organisation for the fracking industry. (See page 159 of this book https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Z5-SBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 for a very interesting description of how Westbourne operate which may ring bells with people involved in the fracking debate.) Perhaps Ruth you could investigate this further?
NWETF, as we already know, is funded by Cuadrilla and Centrica.
As to the Task Forces defence – I am sure that all those affiliated with Frack Free Lancashire respect people’s right to have their own views. What we don’t respect is people claiming to have support that doesn’t actually exist. (although of course with all of the groups like BackingFracking, Blackpool Fracking For a Better future etc etc claiming to have huge grass-roots support which they can’t actually demonstrate, we are getting rather used to it.)
The NWETF took their page http://www.nwenergy.org.uk/lancashire_business_leaders_to_local_council_give_shale_a_chance down this morning and have now replaced it with an inaccurate representation of what actually happened, as they have now removed the 3 names that were publicised and changed the total from 119 to 116, so it looks as though they were not included in the list that was sent to LCC . Of course, they were. You can still see the original here http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rcphMhO0CNAJ:www.nwenergy.org.uk/lancashire_business_leaders_to_local_council_give_shale_a_chance+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
And the Reverend Roberts has the gall to suggest that it is the anti-frackers who we can’t believe? 🙂
Oh Wow. Big deal. There are always going to be opponent and supporters of fracking.
Of course there are TW, but we opponents don’t need to pretend the few supporters of fracking are on our side to make up the numbers. 🙂 The point here is that NWETF appear to have exaggerated their support to try to influence LCC. That’s more than a bit naughty.
I would also point out that Mr Petts was unable to confirm that his own experience of opting in via an email was applied by whoever runs the Task Force. He told me “Panelists aren’t involved in the day-to-day mechanics” and when pressed further “My understanding of what went on is as complete as I’ve been able to demonstrate by providing a copy of my email confirmation”. Given that equivocation Lee is a bit disingenuous to suggest “that Frack Free Lancashire may not have been in possession of all the facts when issuing this press release.” After their research they do seem to be a bit more aware of the “facts” than he is.