Lancashire fracking campaigners join march

Members of groups who are fighting energy company Cuadrilla’s plans to frack for gas in the county joined around 50,000 people in the capital.

The residents from across Lancashire had their chance to speak about the reasons for their opposition of hydraulic fracturing – the extraction of gas from shale rocks deep underground using high pressure water and chemicals.

The event took place ahead of a crucial United Nations summit on climate change which opened in Paris yesterday which aims to agree a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions to prevent potentially life-threatening global warming. The London rally was addressed by Fylde resident and anti-fracking campaigner Barbara Richardson, of Roseacre Awareness Group, who called for support for Lancashire County Council’s decisions to refuse fracking in Roseacre and Preston New Road and spoke against the Government’s announcement last week to ‘call in’ the planning appeal to rule on it themselves. Tina Rothery, of the Lancashire Nanas Against Fracking, also spoke and echoed the calls for support for Lancashire County Council’s decisions to refuse .

Barbara Richardson said: “Roseacre residents joined the rally in London to show that communities will stand up for what we believe and local democracy. Fossil fuel extraction is a major cause of climate change and fracking would only make it worse – we need to leave shale gas in the ground and embrace renewables.”

Dorothy Kelk, a co-ordinator of Central Lancashire Friends of the Earth, which organised a coach to London, said:“It was fantastic to have a full coach join over 50,000 people calling for urgent action on climate change, ahead of this week’s crucial talks.

“Frack Free Lancashire took our message to London that this Government must move away from climate-wrecking fossil fuels and fracking and instead build a clean renewable energy system which could create tens of thousands of jobs in Lancashire alone.”

The UN talks take place over the next fortnight in Paris.