The former fracking company, Cuadrilla, is seeking another five years to extract gas from its site at Elswick, in Lancashire.

Cuadrilla recently restarted gas production at the site near Blackpool and has installed a new electricity generator.

A planning application, submitted to Lancashire County Council this month, described the site as “Elswick Generation Station”.

The company seeks to extend the use of the site for gas extraction and electricity generation until 15 July 2030. It also includes the installation of the new generation unit.

The local parish council has already objected to the application. It has described a loss of trust in Cuadrilla and the planning system (see “Track record of failure”, below).

Temporary planning permission for gas production and electricity generation was first approved at Elswick in 1994. There have been at least three time extensions.

The current planning permission, granted in 2020, expires on 31 July 2025.

The new application concluded that the time  extension complied with local and national planning and energy policies.

Cuadrilla said Elswick gas was estimated to flow for a further five years, after the wellbore had been connected to a new gas processing facility at the site:

“With the site already operational with an expected production life span of up to
five years, the Proposed Development would continue to provide sustainable electricity generation.”

The company said a workover of the well may be required. Future well decommissioning, including permitting, was predicted to take 4-6 months and site restoration 2 months.

Gas production at Elswick

According to official data, Elswick gas production restarted in October 2024 after a gap of more than a decade.

The most recent publicly-available figures (for February 2025) show Elswick was the UK’s lowest ranking onshore producing gas site, extracting 8,000 standard cubic meters in a month.

The data shows that Elswick produced less methane than was vented from individual disused coalmines in England.

Elswick’s production was just 0.2% of the largest onshore gas site at Saltfleetby, which extracted 3,960,000 standard cubic meters in the same month.

In total, UK onshore gasfields contribute about 0.75% of all UK gas production.

“Track record of failure”

In its objection to the application, Treales, Roseacre & Wharles Parish Council criticised previous planning controls on Cuadrilla’s operations:

“It is perceived by some that the Applicant and the Local Planning Authority have established a track record of failure to ensure compliance with the plans and permissions granted to the Applicant, resulting in a systemic loss of trust and confidence and resultant impacts on amenity, health & well-being.

“The wider uncertainty of non-compliance result in the consequences of anxiety regarding highways safety, uncontrolled environmental disturbance, amenity loss and adverse health and well-being.”

The parish council also raised the risk that the cost of site restoration would fall on Lancashire Council Council.

It concluded:

The application will not be supported due to the ongoing impact on the health and wellbeing of residents. It was agreed to request that the site be restored to its original state of best and most versatile land.

The parish council added that Cuadrilla had failed to prove the Elswick site was sustainable development. It continued:

“The nation has been deprived of the benefit of the produce from this land since 1993. A total of 32 years and the applicant would propose that to be 37 years.”

It added that the low production from Elswick:

“does not contribute as an economic nor efficient lowest whole system cost to the
Net-zero transition to the consumer. The plant and equipment should be reused for more productive use appropriate to their economic and efficient capacity or recycled if at the end of their useful lives.”

The parish council also said that Cuadrilla had failed to agree to a traffic management plan, required under previous planning consent:

“Operations have therefore continued for the past 4 years without the required agreed safe traffic management framework in place.”

Comments to the application can be submitted online

Environmental impacts

Cuadrilla said it had considered the environmental impacts of the Elswick application and had proposed “appropriate mitigation”. It concluded:

“On balance the benefits of the development are considered to offset any disbenefits and environmental effects.”

Cuadrilla also said the “characteristics and location” of the Elswick site did not meet the criteria for requiring an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

This is a detailed study, the results of which would be included in the planning application.

Cuadrilla said expected gas production at Elswick was below the EIA threshold of 500,000 cubic meters per day.

The site area (1.2ha) is larger than the 0.5ha threshold in the EIA regulations.

But Cuadrilla said this would not automatically trigger an EIA. The “key test” was whether the site was likely to have significant effects on the environment, the company said.

If Lancashire County Council accepted that no EIA was needed, it is unlikely there would be any assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions emitted from burning Elswick gas in the electricity generator.