Preston New Road Action Group now has a court date of 15th March 2017 for their case against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid.
The case concerns Sajid Javid’s decision to overturn Lancashire County Council’s rejection of a proposed tracking site for the shale company Cuadrilla. The decision provoked considerable anger from local residents and national figures alike, with the Preston New Road Action Group describing it as ‘a top-down abuse of power to facilitate a powerful corporation over a community’s wishes’.
In an official statement released yesterday the group declared that:
“We believe it is fundamentally wrong that the Secretary of State, who is not local, does not represent us nor has been present during any of planning inquiries or hearings for the last three years, has intervened in favour of Cuadrilla.
Over 100,000 people wrote letters of objection to this fracking application. Our parish council, Fylde Borough Council and Lancashire County Council rejected this application. They had a duty of care to local residents and they fulfilled that duty. They carefully determined that the risks of this industry far outweighed any benefits. Lancashire very loudly, said no.”
The group’s media spokesperson, Claire Stephenson, added:
“The scientific evidence and testimonies presented by our community and expert witnesses clearly demonstrated harm from noise, risk to the environment and our health, with unmitigable waste management issues. Cuadrilla failed to answer adequately on any of these topics. There is no way they can safely reduce the harm or indeed the dismantling of our basic right to breathe clean air and enjoy the peaceful environment of their homes.
“300 elderly residents aged 60-90 will be within 1000 metres of this site, some within a few hundred metres proximity. It will operate noisily in a rural area seven days a week, 24 hours a day and pump out methane gas into our environment for 90 days at a time.
“We find this decision entirely unacceptable, fundamentally flawed and we seek to demonstrate this within a court setting.”
There will be a protest against Cuadrilla at their Preston New Road site this Saturday at 11 a.m. For more info visit https://www.facebook.com/events/182956545524346/
