Former fracking site firm told to restore farmland

An energy firm has been ordered to restore a former fracking site in Lancashire to farmland within six months.

Lancashire County Council (LCC) has served Cuadrilla with an enforcement notice on the Preston New Road site, near Blackpool, which was one of only two shale gas wells in the UK.

The local authority's development control committee decided in December to refuse to grant Cuadrilla an extra two years to restore the site.

Preston New Road was used as the country's first horizontal fracking site but after more than 120 tremors were recorded during drilling the process was suspended by the government, most recently in 2022.

LCC said the enforcement notice required all plant, buildings, security and acoustic fencing, pollution control membranes, aggregates and concrete hardstanding forming part of the drilling compound to be removed within four months of the notice being served.

The land must be restored to a condition suitable for agricultural use within six months.

The county council said it "will not hesitate to take further action if the requirements of the notice are not met".

Councillor Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for rural affairs, environment and communities, said: "This situation has gone on for far too long.

"Local residents have had to live with this site for longer than they should have, and it is right that we have now taken firm action to bring this to a conclusion."

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