Lancashire cracks down on Cuadrilla
The county council has served an enforcement notice on the energy company, requiring the restoration of the Preston New Road fracking site in line with approved planning conditions.
Issuing of the notice follows a decision at LCC’s development control committee in December last year, which refused an application from Cuadrilla for a further extension of time to complete the site’s restoration.
Seeking to secure a cost-effective, domestic source of energy in shale gas to sell to the market, Cuadrilla pursued hydraulic fracturing – fracking – in Lancashire in the late 2010s, never without controversy, with opponents making the broad case that a technology much used in deserted stretches of countries such as the US and Australia was not safe enough in a built-up country like the UK due to the potential for instability.
A first consent was secured in 2016. In September 2018 the firm secured a consent for a second horizontal shale exploration well at Preston New Road in Little Plumpton, Fylde – its flagship site. Fracking took place through 2019 before things were called rapidly to a halt.
The government issued a moratorium in November of that year citing an Oil & Gas Authority report that concluded “it is not possible with current technology to accurately predict the probability of tremors associated with fracking”.
That moratorium was reimposed in 2022, and in 2023 Cuadrilla was granted an initial two-year extension for making good at the site.
In January 2025, the firm issued a press release setting out its plans to plug the exploration wells at PNR with cement, and remove surface pipework and valves – it then applied for a further extension to June 2027, which was refused in December in line with officer recommendation.
Sixty objections to the extension were recorded, and opposition groups such as Frack-Free Fylde were represented at the December meeting.
Since refusing Cuadrilla a time extension, LCC said that it has been informed that Cuadrilla will begin removing site infrastructure, marking the start of the restoration process.
However, the approved timetable for restoration was not met, “resulting in unacceptable and unnecessary harm to the rural character of the area”.
The enforcement notice requires all plant, buildings, security and acoustic fencing, pollution control membranes, aggregates and concrete hardstanding forming part of the drilling compound to be removed within four months of the notice being served. The land must then be restored to a condition suitable for agricultural use within six months of the notice being served.
LCC said it will not hesitate to take further action if the requirements of the notice are not met.
Cllr 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.”
Cuadrilla has been approached for comment.
Britain sits atop huge gas and oil reserves which can be extracted safely, but our overlords prefer to import it from, among other places, those with scant regard for the environment or human rights. All this at great cost to our balance of payments, tax base and employment. You might ascribe any manner of adjectives to our government, but ‘intellectual titans’ wouldn’t be one of them.
Get fracking. Now.
By Anonymous
@ Anonymous – Id rather pay more than have fracking, I want clean water from my water pipes not flames
By Anon
But reform nationally are in favour of fracking and said they would remove all restrictions if they win a general election…..so the county council may be overridden by a reform government
By George
Anonymous is very interesting in their defending of fracking, which I’ll admit I rarely see. Unfortunately for them, it’s not quite as simple as “we’re sitting on huge reserves and choosing not to use them”.
The UK does have significant shale gas in the ground, but there’s a big difference between that and gas that’s technically and economically recoverable. Even official assessments from the Grantham Institute say it’s highly uncertain how much could actually be extracted commercially.
And in Lancashire specifically, fracking was paused after it caused measurable earthquakes, which even researchers from Newcastle University say can’t yet be reliably predicted.
Add in issues like methane leakage (which can significantly undermine the climate benefit of gas) and local environmental impacts, and it’s not surprising that the UK hasn’t pursued it further.
Good on central government for maintaining the moratorium, and good on LCC for laying down the law.
By Ellie
Let’s NOT get fracking now… thanks anyway!
By Errm no
Re Anonymous comment its v true that we all have no problem using fracked gas from places that have much lesser human rights than ours. Or shipping it here. Ignorance is bliss. We are greening with use of lithium batteries and components of precious metals from wore torn places like the Congo. Where children are the miners. So we need to understand all of it. All the big companies will sell us the dream but renewables are definitely a far way from being ethical and green.
By Lizzy Baggot
The fracking companies have been lobbying hard , but are all of the geological studies , the conclusion was it was a dead duck .
Hence the policy to improve energy conservation in what is regarded in the worse housing stock in Western Europe , to reduce energy consumption at source . A path which we still have a long way to go . Particularly in replacing all with old flourescent light fittings with LED .
Then generating power via PV panels on houses and industrial sheds .
By Wislon
I’m a supporter of fracking, look at Hinckley Point C, over budget again and delayed, add in the build, maintenance and decommissioning it’ll run in to the £100’s of billions and be operational mid 2030, we need a fast, reliable form of energy, wind and sun are guaranteed, Drax’s “green” pellets from Canada aren’t green, and our current nuclear power stations which are managed by EDF, Energy De France are ageing and expensive to operate – so much for the free electricity which the government promised in the 50’s.
Fracking isn’t perfect, name a energy source that is, but it’s fast, available and cheap.
We have massive reserves of coal, oil and natural gas but they’re all dirty……
WTG, look at their re enforced concrete base, and the haul roads install for construction, Solar…hmmm it’s the UK.
When you come home and the lights don’t switch on, you’ll be wishing you’d agreed to fracking.
By Ian.
@ June 09, 2026 at 1:17 pm
By George
I’m not sure they actually said all that. And LCC is Reform-run, so they would be overruling themselves anyhow.
By Anonymous
Finally some common sense has won out
By Jack van Duyn