Cuadrilla wants more time to dismantle Lancashire fracking site

Cuadrilla carried out hydraulic fracturing at Preston New Road near Blackpool

Energy firm Cuadrilla is asking for two more years to decommission its shale gas wells on land in Lancashire.

It would give the firm until April 2025 to fully dismantle the wells and restore the land at Preston New Road near Blackpool.

The move would not permit any further drilling or fracking, which was banned there after tremors in 2019.

Cuadrilla is to apply to Lancashire County Council for planning permission to allow the extra time.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said campaigners and a local councillor in Little Plumpton have questioned the need for the time extension.

Councillor John Singleton said: "There is a clear steer from the government - there is a ban.

"So a two-year extension is totally out of the question and I would be expecting a date of March 2023 for that site to have undergone restoration.

"Why do they want to extend? What's the reason? I'll be objecting in the strongest possible terms."

A spokesman for Frack Free Lancashire said there was "no justification" for it and the site has "no future".

The county council's Green Party group leader Gina Dowding said "an extension will be deeply disappointing to local communities who just want peace of mind that this fracking experiment is truly over".

Protests were held regularly at the Preston new Road site before fracking was banned in 2019

The fracking ban was lifted by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss in September, but was then reinstated by Rishi Sunak.

The controversial process, which involves drilling into the earth to recover gas from shale rock, was trialled at Preston New Road, which saw lengthy protests from environmental groups and local communities.