The controversial shale gas site at Preston New Road in Lancashire must be restored to farmland by the end of the year, officials confirmed today (8 June 2026).

Lancashire County Council said in a statement it had served an enforcement notice on the owner of the site near Blackpool.

The notice requires the removal all plant, buildings, security and acoustic fencing, pollution control membranes, aggregates and concrete hardstanding forming part of the drilling compound within four months.

The land must then be restored to a condition suitable for agriculture within six months of the notice.

The action follows the council’s refusal in December 2025 of Cuadrilla’s application for two more years to complete restoration work.

The statement said:

“the approved timetable for restoration was not met, resulting in unacceptable and unnecessary harm to the rural character of the area.”

Councillor Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities, said:

“This situation has gone on for far too long.

“Local residents have had to live with this site for longer than they should have, and it is right that we have now taken firm action to bring this to a conclusion.

“It is positive that work is beginning to remove infrastructure from the site, but it is essential that the full restoration is completed within the required timeframe.

“We will not hesitate to take further steps if necessary.”

DrillOrDrop invited Cuadrilla to comment on the enforcement action. This article will be updated with any response.

Local reaction

The Preston New Road shale gas site has been widely opposed in the Fylde region of Lancashire and across the UK for more than a decade.

There were more than 18,000 formal objections to the proposal and petitions against it were signed by nearly 92,000 people.

During drilling and fracking, there were daily protests outside the site.

Susan Holliday, from Preston New Road Action Group, said today:

“There appears to have been very little activity at the site over the last twelve months so it is great that enforcement action is finally being taken.

“The time extension that Cuadrilla applied for, over 12 months ago and were refused, has been taken anyway due to procrastination.

“As a local community we just want the blot on our landscape gone and as soon as possible. It will be great if the site is restored to a green field by the end of this year at which point we will have had its presence for 10 years.”

Miranda Cox, from Frack Free Lancashire, said:

“Finally, some meaningful action from Lancashire County Council. We hope it also entails significant consequences for Cuadrilla. 

“For too long, their planning breaches and tardiness in compliance have been indulged. 

“We look forward to finally waving them goodbye. The damaging saga of Preston New Road may finally have an ending for our community.”

Delays and missed deadlines

Cuadrilla was required to restore Preston New Road by July 2023 under the terms of the original planning permission. It missed the deadline.

The company was granted a two-year extension until June 2025 but missed that deadline as well.

Work to plug and abandon the wells finally began in February 2025. Plant and equipment had been removed by November 2025.

But the hardcore that made up the drilling pad, the security and acoustic fencing and access road remained.

In July 2025, the company sought another two years, applying to delay restoration until 30 June 2027.

Cuadrilla said the extension was needed to complete 12 months of groundwater monitoring and environmental monitoring. This had to be completed before site restoration could begin, the company said.

But Lancashire County Council refused permission saying the extension would breach national and local planning policies, which sought to restore the site at the earliest opportunity.

Apart from site decommissioning, the Preston New Road has been mothballed since August 2019 when fracking caused multiple small earthquakes. These included the largest induced by fracking in the UK.