Roseacre Wood fracking: New traffic routes proposed

Cuadrilla wants to extract shale gas at Roseacre Wood

Three revised routes for traffic at a proposed fracking site on Lancashire's Fylde Coast have been revealed.

Cuadrilla wants to extract shale gas at Roseacre Wood but has not been given approval by the government amid concerns over transport.

The energy firm is proposing three routes for HGV access, between the A583, A585 and the Roseacre Wood site.

A public consultation into the proposals is expected to run until 10 January.

The anti-fracking Roseacre Awareness Group (RAG) said the use of these three routes would only "spread the misery" on roads which were not built for this size of vehicle.

Lancashire County Council originally refused permission to extract shale gas at both Roseacre Wood and Little Plumpton sites in 2015 on the grounds of noise and traffic impact, but Cuadrilla appealed against the decision.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid approved plans in October 2016 for fracking to go ahead at the Preston New Road site at Little Plumpton.

However, the second proposed site, Roseacre Wood, has not yet been given permission and Cuadrilla was told to "think again" about how Roseacre's country lanes would cope with heavy lorries.

Maps show the green, red and blue routes being proposed for the Roseacre site

Rather than using just one road into the site, Cuadrilla has proposed using a combination of three routes to minimise the impact on any one area.

The following routes for HGV access have been included in the proposals:

• Green route - via Elswick and Roseacre

• Red route- via Elswick and Inskip

• Blue route- via Clifton and Dagger Road

Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said: "We believe that the proposed new route strategy and associated traffic management plan will meet the secretary of state's requirement to address outstanding highway safety questions.

"We will review feedback from the public consultation and look forward to presenting our proposals at the public inquiry next April."

Anti-fracking protests were held when Lancashire County Council debated Cuadrilla's plans for the two sites in 2015

Jim Nisbet, chair of RAG, said the plans were "unworkable" and added that Cuadrilla "cannot mitigate the risk to local communities".

"As opposed to impacting a couple of villages on roads that are unsuitable this will impact a far greater number of villages on what are also unsuitable roads for 44-tonne HGVs.

"Cuadrilla are also seeking permission to undertake HGV movements outside the normal working hours. It would appear their rationale is potential protester activity as experienced at Preston New Road."

Drilling companies believe trillions of cubic feet of shale gas may be recoverable from beneath parts of the UK and more than 200 onshore exploration licences have been awarded to energy companies.

Fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - is a technique in which water and chemicals are pumped into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas.

A public inquiry on fracking at Roseacre Wood is set to resume on 10 April.

An anti-fracking campaigner had sought a judicial review to stop the inquiry, but Manchester High Court refused it on grounds such as other parties did not need to be consulted by the government.