Anti-fracking campaigners go to Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has started hearing a fresh attempt by an anti-fracking campaigners to overturn the decision to allow exploratory hydraulic fracturing at the Preston New Road site near Blackpool.
The hearing, which joins separate appeals by the Preston New Road Action Group and individual campaigner Gayzer Frackman, is expected to last for two days.
In 2015, Lancashire County Council refused planning permission for drilling firm Cuadrilla to start exploratory hydraulic fracturing at the Preston New Road site but the decision was overturned last year by the Communities Secretary flowing a public enquiry. This decision was challenged unsuccessfully in the High Court in April this year, but permission to appeal was granted by Lord Justice Jackson in June.
Law firm Leigh Day, which is acting for PNRAG, said its appeal was based on four grounds, namely that the Secretary of State and the Inspector made 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 "wildly different" test for assessing the impact on the quality of life of those living nearby.
When permission to was granted, Leigh Day solicitor Rowan Smith said: “We are very pleased that the Court of Appeal agrees with our assessment that our arguments have sufficient prospects of success to warrant an appeal hearing.
"Encouragingly, Lord Justice Jackson also concurred that our point about the National Planning Policy Framework is indeed a matter of general public importance, given the correct application of the rules will have far reaching effects for many other planning law cases. We are also relieved that PNRAG has costs protection in the appeal, as it did in the planning court.”
