The former fracking company, Cuadrilla, has lost its bid for more time to restore its Lancashire shale gas site at Preston New Road, near Blackpool.

Lancashire county councillors voted this morning by nine votes to nil with no abstentions to refuse the company’s request for an extension of planning permission.

Frack Free Lancashire urged the Reform UK-led planning committee to “tell Cuadrilla that the time has come for them to clear up their mess, pack their bags and get out of town”.

Council officials had recommended refusal of the company’s application. They said:

“The proposed extension of time for the retention of the site in its current form would result in unnecessary and unacceptable harm to the rural character of the area.”

In a report to the committee, planners said the extension would breach national and local planning policies, which sought to restore the site at the earliest opportunity.

Planning officer, Flo Churchill, said “there had been a slip” in Cuadrilla’s timeline for restoration.

Since the original planning permission, she said there had been a significant shift in policy away from fossil fuels.

The Preston New Road site no longer represented sustainable development and the proposed extension would prolong harm, she said.

Cuadrilla had said it needed two more years for groundwater monitoring and site restoration to pasture. No one from the company spoke at the meeting.

This was Cuadrilla’s second attempt to get more time at the site at Little Plumpton near Blackpool.

Under the original planning permission, Cuadrilla had been expected to decommission the site by April 2023. But it failed to meet the deadline.

The company was granted a two-year extension in June 2023. Although the two wells have been decommissioned, the site remains unrestored.

Cuadrilla’s activities at Preston New Road attracted near daily protests. Fracking in 2018 and 2019 induced multiple small earthquakes, some of which were felt across the region. The site was suspended in August 2019 after the UK’s largest fracking-induced earthquake.

Opposition

More than 60 individuals and organisations opposed this application for more time.

John Singleton, the local county councillor, said the extension was “completely absurd”.

He said it was now six years since fracking was last carried out at Preston New Road. He said it had always been known that environmental monitoring would be needed at the site. He said:

“Something different has to be done in order for this company to comply.

“I fear in another two years, you [the company] will be asking for another two years.”

Susan Holliday, local resident and chair of the Preston New Road Action Group, questioned why more time was needed:

“Conditions were put on the original planning permission and the time extension to ensure that the site would be restored in a timely manner, which clearly have not been met.

“It has been obvious to everyone that Cuadrilla have had no intention of meeting their obligations to restore the site by the current revised date, and they have left it until the deadline has passed to request an extension, no doubt on the assumption that Lancashire County Council will then be left with no choice but to agree to the request.”

Mrs Holliday said Cuadrilla had been required to provide six-monthly progress reports since June 2023 but she described them as “poor and lacked detail and did not ensure that the work was delivered to schedule”.

She said the Preston New Road site “has been, and remains, a blot on the landscape”.

“Cuadrilla, has in my opinion, made little effort to abide with their commitments to landscaping and is now trying to get a plan agreed that far exceeds the length of time to that agreed in the original planning permission.

“At the planning meeting in June 2023 local residents highlighted that this exact scenario of a request for further time was likely to happen and they have been proven correct.

“Cuadrilla seems to think that decommissioning deadlines don’t matter and can continue to be extended till they are ready. This makes a complete mockery of the planning process. All elements of the site should be fully decommissioned and the green fields restored as was agreed. By doing nothing and then putting a planning application in when it is too late, Cuadrilla have shown a complete disregard for the process.”

Nick Danby, of Frack Free Lancashire, said:

“This matter has been hanging over the community for six years. That this has still not been resolved is totally unacceptable.”

Mr Danby said in the light of the government’s proposed ban on fracking, “there can be no grounds for Cuadrilla’s continued presence at Preston New Road and absolutely no reason for LCC to allow any further extension”.

He said Cuadrilla “had a lamentable record of persistently missing key milestones and for flouting planning conditions”.

He also criticised the council for failing to enforce planning conditions.

“This committee has a responsibility to the community. Cuadrilla have not only shown contempt for that community but also for the regulators and for you as the planning authority.

“It is high time that they were forced to meet their obligations and to restore the Preston New Road site to the farmland that it once was.”

John Powney, of Ribble Estuary Against Fracking, warned that a vote to extend the permission by another two years could lead to more drilling and fracking at Preston New Road if the current moratorium were lifted. Cuadrilla had drilled and fracked only two of the four wells allowed under the original planning permission, he said.

He said:

“Should attempts be made during the course of this meeting to seek approval of the application by alternative methods we would ask that you treat these suggestions with caution as any increase in time granted for monitoring and restoration may well increase extra time for site development.  

“We are here today to consider the best and most acceptable way to complete the works at the PNR [Preston New Road] site as soon as possible.

“We should not be here to decide whether or not to extend the life of the site as a potential fracking development with all the disruption that would bring. Your officer has offered sound policy for refusal.”

Shirley Powney, another local resident, said she had been at the meeting that approved a two-year extension in 2023. She said she was “perplexed to be here again today”. She asked whether the council was afraid of the cost of enforcing restoration at the site.

She also warned there was no support for fracking locally. If the process returned, she said, people in Lancashire would resume their protests. The cost of policing the protests, estimated at  £450,000 a month, should be factored against the cost of enforcement, she said.

Helen Rimmer, of Friends of the Earth, said it was 12 years since the original planning permission. She said the site had been an “unacceptable burden on the local community”.

Cuadrilla had shown no respect for the planning regime nor the planning authority, she said, and effective enforcement was needed to maintain trust in the planning system. She urged the council to instruct Cuadrilla to restore the site immediately.

Michael Marshall, of Frack Free Fylde, said the council should look at Cuadrilla’s record at Preston New Road. He said there had been breaches of environmental conditions, including pollution events, handling of hazardous waste, air emissions, methane management and groundwater monitoring requirements.

Cuadrilla had repeatedly failed to meet basic conditions on air, water and public confidence, Mr Marshall said. It is reasonable for the committee to question Cuadrilla’s ability to comply with conditions, he said.

Michelle Cross, another local resident, and member of Frack Free Fylde, said the local community had had to bear the costs of fracking at Preston New Road, not Cuadrilla. She urged the Reform UK-led council to listen to the people of Lancashire and show it respected the evidence of the risks of fracking. She said the party should resist any attempt to bring back fracking to the county.

In a statement, another resident said local people had had to fight for information about how hazardous waste from Preston New Road was transported through their towns. She asked how residents could feel confident about their health and environment.

Stephen Burton, another resident and member of Frack Free Fylde, said there were also restoration delays at other shale gas sites in Lancashire. Residents had been assured these sites would be tightly controlled short-term developments but swift restoration did not materialise, he said. Time limits had been treated as flexible and deadlines had been missed. Don’t look at promises, he said, but at the company’s record in Lancashire.

Gayza Frackman, of chair of Frack Free Fylde, said fracking has been tried and it failed, socially, economically and environmentally. He urged Reform UK’s energy spokesperson, Richard Tice, to debate fracking with him. Let the community listen and vote, he said.

Councillor comments

Cllr Hamish Mills (Green) asked if the application were refused what action would the council take to enforce restoration. Planning officer, Flo Churchill, said the council would have to decide what enforcement was appropriate. Appeals against enforcement could take more than a year and no action could be taken if an appeal was underway. She also said the originally planning permission had now expired.

Cllr Chris Snow (Labour) said restoration was urgent. The stored topsoil at Preston New Road needs to be spread across the site as soon as possible, he said.

Cllr Clive Balchin (Reform UK) said residents should not be ignored by the council. He asked whether the community could benefit from the site.

Cllr Simon Gummer, the committee chair, asked whether the company had complied with planning conditions. No, said the planner, Flo Churchill.

Cllr Adrian Owens, (Our West Lancashire), said an extension would be an excuse for further delays.

• Reaction to today’s decision