BREAKING NEWS!!! Secretary of State to call in fracking decision in Lancashire. Planning Inspector will produce a report but the decision will be made at Westminster. The reason for this direction is because the drilling appeals (3134385 and 3134386) involve proposals for exploring and developing shale gas which amount to proposals for development of major importance having more than local significance and proposals which raise important or novel issues of development control, and/or legal difficulties. More detail later.

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FFL have been crowdfunding to cover the cost of a judicial review to overturn Lancashire County Council’s decision to allow Cuadrilla to install seismic monitors in 91 fields surrounding Roseacre Wood and fight Cuadrilla’s appeal against the refusals relating to Roseacre and Preston New Road.

We believe that the Roseacre seismic monitoring decision is seriously flawed and can be challenged, a preliminary hearing was held in October at which the judge confirmed that there are grounds for a judicial review.

A date has yet to be confirmed for this hearing which will take place in London. Full details here…..

The decisions for the main drilling sites and seismic monitoring around Preston New Road were refused  and Cuadrilla have lodged an appeal which will be considered at a public enquiry in February a preliminary hearing was held in Blackpool on the 19th November. More details here….

If there is to be no fracking, why do we need seismic monitoring?

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Cuadrilla Resources Roseacre Wood Fracking Application has been Rejected Unanimously by Lancashire County Council

(However 88 Seismic Monitoring Sites were still Approved!)

Find out more about the decision from RAFF, Frack Off & Drill or Drop

Preston New Road Fracking Decision

Monday 29th June

Lancashire is still under threat from Cuadrilla’s second application

Don’t Frack Lancs! Rally in Preston!
All Welcome – Event Details Here

Read more about the proceedings so far and how councillors have been
prevented from blocking the PNR proposal…

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Huge Day for Lancashire – Come and Join Us
We can Stop Fracking & Protect our County!

From 9am on Tuesday 23rd, Lancashire County Council will be deciding on whether or not to approve two of the biggest fracking tests ever contemplated in the UK. If allowed to happen, each site would have 4 horizontal wells, producing tens of millions of gallons and radioactive and toxic waste and opening the door to thousands more wells to be drilled across Lancashire, and the rest of the UK. Preston Council have just recommended objection to the plans for Roseacre Wood.

Come down to County Hall, Preston, where Lancashire County council are due to decide on Cuadrilla’s fracking applications. Fishergate, Preston, Lancashire PR1 8RL

On the first day (and on subsequent days), concerned communities from around the UK will descend upon Lancashire County Hall in Preston for a peaceful show of solidarity and resistance. This is a huge deal that has implications for the entirety of the UK. It’s also a great chance to showcase the strength and solidarity of the of the UK anti-fracking movement by standing with the people of Lancashire!

Full Event Details Here!

Wear Yellow & Bring a Home Made Banner!

Register your Objection to Cuadrilla’s plans now!!!

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Lancashire County Council has announced new dates in June for its Development Control Committee to make decisions on Cuadrilla Resources plans to continue fracking in the Fylde.

The applications relating to the Preston New Road site are scheduled to be decided at meetings to take place on Tuesday 23rd June and Wednesday 24th June. The applications relating to the Roseacre Wood site are scheduled to be decided at meetings to take place on Thursday 25th June and Friday 26 June.

Community groups from across Lancashire and the UK now have a clear focus for action on the decision days and in the weeks in the lead up.

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In March last year Cuadrilla made a new application for their Becconsall site. Although they have backed away from a full scale frack at Banks they now want to perforate the well with high explosives and install pressure monitoring equipment. They have refused to give details of the explosives to be used but will need to bring a full work-over rig on-site with pumps to recirculate fluid in the well (an almost identical application for a site at Grange Road in Singleton was refused in February this year). Ribble Estuary Against Fracking (REAF) issued this statement.

Hunters Shot Geese On Cuadrilla’s Wildfowl Refuge

It has also come to light that Pink Footed Geese feeding on a wildfowl refuge set up by Cuadrilla were shot by hunters who had leased the same fields.

Lancashire County Council’s planning committee approved the Banks application in September last year but did not issue the planning permission until the 1st May 2015! The committee’s recommendation to approve was subject to the applicant putting in place “off site ecological mitigation measures” to be provided throughout the wintering wildfowl seasons. However, the owners of a large section of land set aside for migratory birds had an ongoing contract with the gun club. See the full time-line for the Banks Site.

This is just one of numerous breaches of planning that Cuadrilla have committed. Read more…

Residents from across Lancashire gathered at the site on Bank Holiday Monday (4th May 2015) to show their opposition to any activity by Cuadrilla. In addition to the new applications for exploratory fracking at Preston New Road and Roseacre Cuadrilla are seeking to retain and extract saleable data from as many sites across Lancashire as possible. As 60% of the UK is now available to fracking companies it is essential that every community facing this threat gets informed and organised to resist.

Read the full story on Frack Off & Drill Or Drops websites…

Find your Local Group…

Register your Objection to Cuadrilla’s plans now!!!

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Lancashire County Council has agreed with Cuadrilla to extend the time period to make decisions on planning applications for shale gas development at Preston New Road and Roseacre until 30 June 2015.

The council issued this Press Release today. Although the official consultation period ended on the 17th April you can still Submit Objections to Cuadrillas Fracking plans. The decision has now been delayed by over six months but Fylde residents are determined to keep the pressure on.

The date of the decision is up in the air, but with more time to organise and summer on it’s way, resistance is fertile…

“Grassroots opposition is growing all the time across the Fylde, the UK and everywhere this industry puts communities under threat. We will fight this all the way.”

The Residents of Roseacre full statement

Now is the time to put even more pressure on Cuadrilla and oppose their fracking plans at Preston New Road and Roseacre. For each of these sites Cuadrilla will require 20,000 vehicle movements, between 24-36 million gallons of fresh water and produce 13 million gallons of radioactive liquid waste and 3,500 tonnes of hazardous solid waste. This would be dwarfed by the 100’s of sites and 1,000’s of wells required for full scale shale gas production in the North West.

Contact your Local Group now!

Register your Objection now!

For updates and events follow us on Social Media ->>>

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In a letter published by the British Medical Journal, 20 high profile doctors, pharmacists and public health academics said the “inherently risky” industry should be prohibited in the UK.

The letter follows a report published in the same week by Dr David McCoy and Dr Patrick Saunders for MEDACT. The report identifies direct and immediate health impacts of fracking and states that:

“While the precise level of risk to human health is indeterminate, the health hazards involved are substantial. No assurance can be given that the (UK regulatory) system is adequately robust and protective of human and ecological health”

Read the full report here…

Object to Fracking on the Fylde now!

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Cuadrilla’s Fracking Plans Threaten Fylde Primary School

Parents at Weeton St Michael’s are concerned about the impacts of fracking and the industrialisation it entails. Their children’s school is just one mile from Cuadrilla’s proposed fracking site at Preston New Road near Little Plumpton. They have already gathered over 200 signatures on a petition they plan to submit to Lancashire County Council.

Lancashire County Council Avoid Discuss

Claire whose daughters attend Weeton St Michael’s, said if the application is granted several parents would remove their children from the school.

“The main reason parents decided to group together and petition the county council is the lack of information on the potential risk factors of a primary school being one mile away from an industrial operation.”

“No dialogue has been entered into with parents and they were unhappy with the response from the Governors and County Hall continually stating they are unable to discuss it.”

“The prevailing wind is south-westerly, and therefore most of the time, the fumes from any fugitive gas emissions, the many diesel compressors and generators will blow polluted air directly over the school and according to a recent journal, may well exacerbate respiratory and skin conditions.”

Read the full story here…

More about the peer-reviewed study here…

Read more peer-reviewed studies here…

Register your Objection now!

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Lancashire County Council have rejected Cuadrilla’s plans to continue work at their prospective fracking site at Singleton.

Councillors voted against Cuadrilla’s proposal LCC/2014/0084 to start pressure testing and seismic monitoring at the previously drilled site by seven to six (with one interest declared and one abstention) more details… Significantly they chose to ignore planning officers recomendation to approve and are now demanding to see the full report on the impacts of fracking on rural communities by DEFRA.

Read Singleton Against a Fracked Environment full statement here…

The well at Grange Road was originally drilled in 2011. Planning permission was granted in 2010 for 18 months after which the site should have been restored. The Council did not take any action to enforce the restoration conditions so Cuadrilla ignored them (a standard industry tactic) and left the well in a suspended state for the last 4 years. The planning regulations that were stated with regards to the refusal were the Fylde Plan, Lancashire Minerals and Waste Development Framework (LMWDF) and Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan (LMWLP) full details…

This decision is another massive victory for “A Frack Free Lancashire” and everyone affected by these fracking plans! It sends a clear message to Cuadrilla that it’s activities are finally being subjected to some scrutiny. It remains to be seen what Cuadrilla will do next.

If you oppose fracking in Lancashire we would love to hear from you.

Now is the time to put even more pressure on Cuadrilla and oppose their fracking plans at Preston New Road and Roseacre.

Contact your Local Group now!

Register your Objection now!

For updates and events follow us on Social Media ->>>

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