During all the violent anti-fracking protests at Barton Moss a few years ago, residents and campaigners were screaming for Salford councillors to do something, even if it was just visiting the site and seeing for themselves what was going on.
Not one of them bothered to turn up – and it later emerged that Salford Council was actually in cahoots with IGas, GMP and Peel Holdings throughout the protests, sharing intelligence, communications and branding (see previous Salford Star article – click here)
What a difference to Fylde where Lancashire County Council firstly, in 2016, refused planning permission for fracking company, Cuadrilla, to begin the controversial process; then, after the Government had overruled its decision, the site saw local councillors not only attend the protests but get involved in direct action.
Meanwhile, behind the daily protests, there's been an ongoing legal challenge to try and stop Cuadrilla fracking. After the Secretary of State overturned the local council's original democratic decision to refuse fracking permission, an application for a judicial review was made at Manchester Court of Appeal in April this year (see here). But this was dismissed by Justice Dove who stated that none of the grounds argued were "made out in substance".
On Wednesday and Thursday this week, however, the Preston New Road Action Group, is taking a legal challenge over fracking in Lancashire to the Court of Appeal in London. At the same time, there's also an additional challenge by a separate campaigner.
"We trust that the Secretary of State's decision to allow fracking at Preston New Road will be found unsound, and Lancashire County Council's original decision will be reinstated" states a spokesperson from Preston New Road Action Group
"Even before any fracking has commenced, the local community has been subjected to disruption" the spokesperson explains "They have suffered stress due to the process and since work commenced on the site, their day-to-day lives have been disrupted by convoys of HGVs, a massive police presence and many road closures.
"Cuadrilla, far from being good neighbours, have already demonstrated their contempt for the local community and planning conditions meant to protect it" they add "They have breached planning conditions by bringing the rig on to site during the night and have commenced drilling only days prior to the appeal being heard.
"People matter, communities matter" they insist "As has been demonstrated loudly and clearly over the last three years upwards, there is no social licence to frack at Preston New Road."
Should Salford councillors ever find the backbone to resist fracking in the city, this court decision could have massive implications...
Update: 29th August 2017 – City Councillor takes direct action...
Four women from Lancaster, including a City Councillor, have today taken action by locking-on outside Cuadrilla’s fracking site on Preston New Road.
The three women are all members of the Green Party and are taking action to protest against increasing extraction of fossil fuels. They arrived at the site with a boat named Fracky McFrackFace, painted with the slogans: ‘Harness the wind, waves and sun’ and ‘Bail out from fracking’.
“We have brought a boat to the fracking site to highlight the fact that fracking will make climate change worse by emitting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere” explains Caroline Jackson, a Lancaster City Councillor and retired headteacher “Fracking will therefore contribute to rising sea levels. Around half a billion people around the world are at risk from rising sea levels.”
Emily Heath, a university lecturer in Earth Sciences, added that to continue to develop fossil fuels “is utter madness...We have abundant renewable energy all around us, and yet the Government is hell-bent on undermining the renewable energy industry, because they have vested interests in the fossil fuel industry and seem to be incapable of thinking beyond the short term.”
For Mollie Foxall, a retired NHS manager, it’s about local democracy, as well as the other issues... “I am taking direct action because the Government has left me no choice” she says “They overturned the local democratic decision to not allow fracking in this area. We are calling on the Government to put people’s lives ahead of corporate profits, and stop backing fracking.”
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