Anti-fracking protest camp set up near Tarleton, Lancashire

There will be a demolition of a mock fracking rig and replacing it with a wind turbine

More than 300 people have taken part in a weekend-long protest against fracking in West Lancashire.

The campaigners set up camp in Mere Brow near Tarleton.

Organisers said Camp Frack was designed to highlight the dangers of fracking and promote environmentally-friendly alternatives.

Cuadrilla Resources, which holds licences to test for shale gas in Lancashire, said no exploration was currently taking place on its sites.

A spokesman for the firm which owns four sites in the county - Weeton, Singleton, St Annes and Banks - said it was business as normal for Cuadrilla.

Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water and chemicals into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas and oil.

Festival atmosphere

One of the protest organisers, Stephen Hall, said: "We don't want to preach to people; we want to raise awareness in a more fun way than a straight-forward protest."

Mr Hall, who is president of the Greater Manchester Association of Trades Union Councils, said there was a festival atmosphere at the event with 60 live acts and entertainment for children.

Numerous anti-fracking and environmental groups supported the event including the Campaign against Climate Change and Friends of the Earth.

Cuadrilla has delayed its plans to carry out fracking until 2014 to carry out Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) at its existing and planned new sites.

It said explorations have already found Lancashire's Bowland basin holds at least 200 trillion cubic feet of gas and claimed it has a market value of £136bn.

The firm has applied to Lancashire County Council to frack for shale gas at its Anna's Road site in St Annes and Banks.

Fracking was temporarily banned in the UK after it was blamed for two earth tremors in Blackpool in 2011.

A government review following the tremors concluded that fracking was safe if adequately monitored.