Local Council Seeks Greater Monitoring of Cuadrilla Activities

Fylde Council is to step up monitoring for Cuadrilla Resource's operations following a meeting with the company.

Cuadrilla representatives were quizzed by Council’s community focus scrutiny committee and local residents last week.

Councillors have resolved to ask for a special group to be set up to look into Cuadrilla’s activities at sites at Preese Hall, in Weeton, and Grange Road, Singleton, given concerns that have been raised over the safety of the operations and possible links to recent earthquakes.

Committee chairman Coun Kiran Mulholland said: “The committee decided unanimously Cuadrilla should be an item for in-depth scrutiny."

The issues surrounding the shale gas drilling were debated for almost two hours with Peter Turner, the man in charge of geology at Cuadrilla, and Chris Herd, who oversees environmental issues for the company.

Committee member Coun Maxine Chew, who represents Singleton, said that an in-depth investigation would look into the "whys, wherefores and suitabilities of shale gas exploration.”

A spokesman for Cuadrilla said the company welcomed ongoing communication with the council and believed it was “important” to engage with the community.

Exploratory drilling is continuing at the Singleton site, but hydraulic fracking is temporarily suspended at the Preese Hall site while the British Geological Society and Department of Energy and Climate Change investigate an earthquake last month.

Source: Blackpool Gazette