Reform in Lancashire reveals position on fracking as national party brands it an energy 'treasure

Reform UK in Lancashire says it believes any future fracking activity in the UK will be focused hundreds of miles away on the other side of the country - and that local conditions are "not conducive" to restarting the controversial process where it was previously carried out on the Fylde Coast.

- by Paul Faulkner

The ruling group on Lancashire County Council was responding to comments made by Reform's national deputy leader in which he championed shale gas as an untapped source of energy.

Deputy Reform UK leader Richard Tice said last week that should the party get into government in 2029, it would lift the current indefinite ban on fracking in the UK and start testing new extraction techniques at a small number of independently-monitored sites.

"That will confirm the quantity of gas available and satisfy people that it's safe," he declared, in what amounted to a restatement of a Reform manifesto commitment ahead of last year's general election to "enable major production when safety is proven, with local compensation schemes [put in place]".

However, his enthusiasm has provoked anger among anti-fracking campaigners in Lancashire, where the process - which involves water and chemicals being pumped into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas - has a long and volatile history.

A site off Preston New Road in Fylde became the focus of semi-permanent protest after the government gave the green light for test drilling by energy firm Cuadrilla in October 2016.

The process was suspended - and the national ban, or moratorium, imposed - in 2019 after a series of tremors at the Little Plumpton plot that year, the largest of them measuring 2.9 on the Richter scale.

Nick Danby, from Frack Free Lancashire, said Reform would face "massive and sustained opposition, both nationally and locally, if they try to resurrect fracking".

But Deputy Lancashire County Council leader Simon Evans sought to soothe local concerns.