Recap: Lancashire rejects fracking bid

County councillors have turned down plans to frack for shale gas in Lancashire.

Energy firm Cuadrilla wanted to undertake exploratory drilling and fracking at a site in Little Plumpton, between Preston and Blackpool.

Planning officials recommended approval of the operation subject to a number of conditions but councillors have rejected the advice and voted against.

Members of the council's development control committee voted 10-4 to reject the application.

It followed a motion passed by the committee that it should be turned down because it would cause an unacceptable impact on the landscape, visual amenities and noise.

Members of the public including residents living near the proposed site stood up and applauded the committee when the motion was passed.

Cuadrilla had wanted to frack and test the flow of gas at the site following drilling at up to four exploration wells.

The Government has said it is going "all out for shale", claiming it would create jobs and growth, reduce energy prices and cut the country's reliance on gas imports.

But opponents have raised fears that the process causes earthquakes, can pollute water supplies, could lead to inappropriate development in the countryside and damage house prices.

Environmental campaigners and local opponents of fracking had been protesting outside County Hall in Preston, calling for councillors to reject the proposals.

Hydraulic fracturing - or fracking - involves pumping water, chemicals and sand at high pressure underground to fracture shale rock and release the gas trapped in it.

Councillors refused the application because they considered the development would cause an unacceptable impact on the landscape and visual amenities, in contrary to the Fylde Local Plan.

Anti-fracking campaigners reacted with delight as the decision filtered to them outside County Hall.

Bottles of champagne were uncorked as chants of "Frack Free Lancashire" sounded out, while one protester shouted: "Frack off Cuadrilla."

Planning officers had recommended the plans should be passed subject to a number of conditions being met such as controlling time limits, hours of working, control of noise and highway matters.

The decision on the Preston New Road site was deferred from last week as councillors wanted to review the council's legal advice which warned that rejecting the application because of its visual and landscape impacts would be "unreasonable" in planning terms.

But legal advice from barristers consulted by the Preston New Road Action Group and Friends Of The Earth countered that members could reasonably reject the plans.

Ashley Bowes QC, advising the residents' group, said a refusal based on landscape and noise impact was reasonable if it was "supported by evidence before the committee and the harm could be adequately identified in a reason for refusal ... provided the eventual reasons are supported by evidence at appeal, there is no serious risk of costs even if the appeal is allowed".