The council was due to meet and decide on planning permission over the next three days, but have pushed the meeting back by eight weeks after legal advisors warned them this morning they had no other option.
Cuadrilla asked for the deferral last week in order to ‘properly consult on noise and traffic concerns’ which had arisen after the Planning Officer refused permission based on night-time noise levels in nearby residential areas and ‘heavy truck traffic’.
Councillors said they did not take the decision lightly, expressing concern over the extended uncertainty for local communities.
System manipulation
Reacting to the news, Friends of the Earth’s North West campaigner Helen Rimmer said: “We are disappointed that Councillors have granted a deferral when Cuadrilla have had several months to present their case, which Lancashire’s planning officers have found to be unacceptable.
“While a further delay is another setback for Cuadrilla – its manipulation of the planning system has created more uncertainty for communities whose health and environment are at risk from controversial fracking.
“Lancashire council must resist Cuadrilla’s ploys to push fracking through and listen to the tens of thousands of voices of opposition and reject these plans. Failure to do so will leave Lancashire as the UK’s guinea pig for this unnecessary and polluting technology.”
The decision comes just days after MP’s voted to ban fracking in areas of natural beauty and underground water sources.
Anti fracking campaigners outside Lancashire County Hall https://t.co/pjE7fPS7rh
— Claire Hannah (@Claire_journo) January 28, 2015
Brad Allen
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