Cuadrilla Faces Final Legal Challenge

A residents' group is appealing a decision by the planning division of the High Court to allow shale gas explorer Cuadrilla to frack in Lancashire, northwest England. Cuadrilla's CEO however says it is confident that the decision will be upheld.
 
Leigh Day, the law firm representing the residents, has said its appeal will be heard at the Court of Appeal from August 30, and is expected to last two days; it said that judgment is likely to be reserved.
 
Lancashire County Council on June 29 2015 refused planning permission to Cuadrilla to use a site off Preston New Road for fracking. Cuadrilla appealed and, following a public inquiry, was recommended for approval by an inspector which was then confirmed by the Secretary of State October 6 2016.
 
The residents' group, Preston New Road Action Group (PNRAG), wrote to the UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid MP, that month asking the government to reconsider, but this was rejected. PNRAG's solicitors Leigh Day then applied for a statutory review under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, but the planning division of the High Court dismissed this challenge in April 2017.
 
The residents group then applied for permission to appeal the High Court judgment and this was granted in June 2017.
 
The appeal claims that the Secretary of State and the Inspector made four errors of law by: misinterpreting a policy protecting against harm to the landscape; wrongly applying the National Planning Policy Framework; denying a fair hearing during the planning inquiry; and using a different test for assessing the impact on the quality of life of those living nearby.

Cuadrilla said mid-August it had begun drilling a pilot well at the Preston New Rd site, after drilling equipment arrived at the site in late July.