Lancashire Fracking: Planning application rejected

Lancashire County Council has rejected a planning application by shale gas explorer Cuadrilla to frack in the county.

Hundreds of anti-fracking campaigners outside the county hall in Preston, where the verdict was announced, reacted with delight and cheers, and people in the council chamber applauded.

The surprise rejection regards a site at Preston New Road, near Little Plumpton on the Fylde, where Cuadrilla had hoped to drill four wells and undertake exploratory fracking for shale gas.

Nine of the councillors on the 14-strong development control committee voted in favour of a motion to reject the application on grounds of visual impact and unacceptable noise, and also rejected a related application for an array to monitor seismic activity.  The long-delayed decision by councillors follows their rejection last week on traffic grounds of a bid by Cuadrilla to frack at another site, Roseacre Wood, between Preston and Blackpool.  Planning officers had earlier this month recommended the council reject Roseacre Wood but approve Preston New Road.

Councillors said the grounds for refusing the application for a monitoring array at Preston New Road was that it ran contrary to planning policy EP11, in the respect that “the cumulative effect of the proposal would lead to the industrialisation of the countryside and adversely affect the landscape character.”  They were earlier told that rejections were likely to be appealed by Cuadrilla. In a statement, the company said it was “surprised and disappointed” at the decision, and it remained committed to extracting shale gas in Lancashire.

“We will now take time to consider our options regarding an appeal for Preston New Road, along with also considering appeals for the planning applications recently turned down, against officer advice, for monitoring and site restoration at Grange Hill, and last week’s decision to refuse the Roseacre Wood application,” the statement said. They went on to say “It is over a year since the application was submitted to the Council and the committee’s decision comes after Planning Officer’s scrupulously went through the rigorous, 4,000 page Environmental Statement that accompanied our application and conducted widespread public consultation, which led to their positive recommendation”.

Ken Cronin, chief executive of Ukoog, which represents the shale industry, called on the government to review the planning process. “This after 15 months of a long, drawn-out process cannot be right, and I urge the government to urgently review the process of decision-making.”

Alister Scott, professor of environmental and spatial planning at Birmingham City university said an appeal was certain. Professor Andy Aplin, director of the Centre for Research in Earth Energy Systems at Durham University, said a legal challenge was likely.

Liz Hutchins, a senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth, spoke from outside the town hall where she said the atmosphere was “absolutely electric” and a “massive celebration.”

“This is a bigger win than anyone was expecting, it shows the huge strength of feeling here. There was no way councillors could go against feelings of local people. This is a real blow for Cuadrilla and government.

“Obviously Cuadrilla will try to appeal, and that will go to the national planning inspectorate, and we want a commitment from David Cameron that they won’t intervene in the wishes of local people here.”

So what will the planning appeal process involve if Cuadrilla do decide to appeal:

The government advises that appeals should only be made as a last resort.   Following receipt of an unsatisfactory planning decision, discussions should take place with the LPA to establish whether the proposed development can be amended to overcome the LPA’s concerns. This approach is quicker and cheaper than pursuing an appeal.  However given the length of time taken to reach this decision, and the amount of reports and investigations already submitted, it is unlikely that there is any scope for Cuadrilla to revert back to Lancashire County Council with further proposals, given that this has already been undertaken and was the cause of the latest delay to the committee hearing.

Under section 78 of the Town and County Planning Act 1990, there is a right of appeal where, amongst other things, planning permission has been refused.  There are three types of planning appeal: Written Representation, Hearings and Local Inquiries.  The Planning Inspectorate will encourage Cuadrilla and LCC to agree on the most suitable appeal method.  If the parties cannot agree and request different methods, then the Planning Inspectorate will consider the merits of each method and make the decision as to the method of appeal.  The majority of planning appeals are dealt with by planning inspectors, but the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, direct that an appeal will be determined by him, which is known as a “recovered appeal”.  There are a list of reasons why the Secretary of State will consider recovering appeals, but the most likely in this situation would be because the appeal involves a development that is of major importance and has more than local significance or gives rise to substantial regional or national controversy.  This is certainly the case for this application.

For now interested parties on both sides of the Fracking debate will wait to see what the next steps Cuadrilla intend to take, but it would be highly likely that any planning appeal would be handled by the Secretary of State.

Harrison Drury’s Energy and Utilities team provide legal support for everyone involved in the Energy and Renewable Energy sectors.  If you have a question relating to an energy project or an energy-based business, please contact one of our lawyers in Clitheroe, Preston, Lancaster, Garstang or Kendal today.