Cuadrilla’s Elswick gas production site near Blackpool has been granted a five-year extension.

The company applied for planning permission to install a new generator and continue to extract gas and generate electricity until July 2030.

Lancashire County Council’s development control committee voted to approve the scheme, despite local objections and calls for a restoration bond and traffic management plan.

Consent for the Elswick site was first granted in 1989, followed by four further permissions to extend its life.

Gas production at the site on Roseacre Road resumed in October 2024 after a pause of more than 11 years.

In the recent months for which data is available, Elswick produced a monthly average of 11.4 ksm3 (thousand standard cubic meters). This represents 0.2% of UK onshore gas production.  UK onshore gas is about 0.7% of UK total gas production.

Reform UK councillor, Joshua Roberts, who represents the area around Elswick, told the meeting (16/7/2025) that gas production from the site in 2024 was so minimal that it “barely registered against national figures”

He said:

“The economic value of this minerals site has clearly diminished after over three decades of operation. There has been little or no meaningful output in recent years.”

He said:

“It is clear this site is past its useful life and the question now is not whether it could produce more. It is whether it can be properly restored.”

He added:

 “We must acknowledge continued non-compliance at this and other related sites by Cuadrilla, which undermines trust in the operator’s commitment and capacity to meet restoration conditions.

“There is also a significant financial concern with the operator’s parent company showing signs of deteriorating capability. It would be negligible not to consider a restoration bond to protect the taxpayers’ future risk.

“This is not about halting progress. It is about upholding planning standards, protecting residents and ensuring policy decisions are grounded in national and local regulations.”

Treales, Roseacre and Wharles Parish Council also objected to the application. It said the site made no meaningful contribution to UK energy supply, but the country had been deprived of the benefits of agricultural production from the best and most versatile farmland for more than thirty years.

The parish council also called for a restoration bond and complained that the company had not produced the required traffic management plan.

Another local councillor, John Singleton (Conservative), said continued use of the Elswick site would increase the potential for accidents on Roseacre Road, which experienced excessive speeding.

Lancashire’s head of development control, Jonathan Haine, told the meeting the site did contribute to UK energy. His report recommending approval of the application said:

“It is considered that utilising the remaining gas reserves at this site would not compromise the ability to meet climate change objectives and would align with Government policy for a range of energy generation methods as the UK moves towards a low carbon future.”