Why council decision might not make much difference

The decision to refuse to allow more time for the restoration of the Fylde fracking site will make little difference to how long the process actually takes, the Post understands.

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A report presented to Lancashire County Council development control committee members revealed that the plugging was completed in the spring of this year. However, it is believed that monitoring did not then begin until June.

An Environment Agency (EA) permit for the site requires that inspections continue to be carried out for a minimum of a year - and Cuadrilla said in its own application that it will take four months, "depending on weather conditions", to complete the subsequent restoration.

The process is therefore set to take at least 16 months of the 24 that the firm had applied for in additional time - regardless of the fact that the permission sought was ultimately refused.

Had it been approved, the clock would have started ticking from the point at which the previous permission lapsed at the end of June 2025 - meaning the earliest that the land could be fully restored is October 2026.