Protesters block Cuadrilla as fracking re-starts at Lancashire drill site

Fracking operations have begun in Lancashire, despite a blockade by protesters at the entrance of a shale gas drilling site.

Environmental groups attempted to disrupt works at the Preston New Road site near Blackpool, Lancashire, this morning.

Unconventional gas firm Cuadrilla announced it has started fracking activities at the site, after campaigners lost a challenge at the high court on Friday.

Fracking, or Hydraulic Fracturing, involves the pumping of vast quantities of water and chemicals into unstable rock to release combustible gas.

Police confirmed they are present at the site and have a cordon in place to ensure "contraflow", as the blockade extends out into the road. They did not say whether officers were planning to move protesters on.

Campaigners blocked the site's entrance with a van, with a small tower on its roof and a banner reading "Stop the Start", as a crowd of supporters stand together to disrupt the arrival of site crew.

A man and a woman had to be cut from of a set of tyres filled with concrete which they had handcuffed themselves to as they sat in the road.

Ginette Evans, 60, from Fleetwood, said: "We'll be monitoring the site 24 hours a day. It is definitely not over, it has just got serious. The fight's just really started."

Activitsy Justin Vanparys, 47, from Blackburn, said: "Fossil fuels should stay in the ground. We have already got global warming."

Green MP for Brighton Caroline Lucas tweeted in support of the blockade. She said: "Good luck to peaceful protestors at #fracking site at PNR this morning

"Supreme irony that Government giving green light to whole new fossil fuel industry to start today - just a week after IPCC climate report on importance of keeping vast majority of fossil fuels in the ground."

Activities were ceased on the site after two minor earthquakes in 2011 - resulting in a country-wide moratorium on fracking and tightening of regulations

The injunction was applied for by Lancashire resident, Bob Dennett, over emergency planning procedures at the site. An additional legal challenge brought by Friends of the Earth regarding regulation at the site is still being considered by the High Court.

The ruling was "sad news for local residents who’ve long fought against this dirty industry and the risks it poses to their environment and the climate," said Jamie Peters, Friends of the Earth fracking campaigner.

“In a week in which the scale of action needed to stop climate chaos has dominated the headlines, it is simply wrong to be heralding the start of a new fossil-fuel industry.

“You can have fracking or you can deal with climate change –you can’t do both.”

The UN's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change launched a new report only two weeks ago bringing forward the dangerous limits of climate change and calling on world leaders to take immediate action to bring global warming under control by 2040.

The extensive list of measures required includes a diverse energy mix of 85 per cent renewables and practically no coal, oil or gas.

The report pushed ministers to engage climate change scientists to advise on setting new targets to achieve zero emissions of greenhouse gases.

Targets currently stand aim for a 80 per cent reduction by 2050 - falling far outside the new UN recommendations.

"On the global stage, the UK is driving forward action on climate change through our work at the UN and with our Commonwealth partners" Prime Minister Theresa May said in a letter to the Climate Change Committee.

"To ensure that we continue to lead from the front, we are asking the experts to advise on targets for net zero emissions."

But the government has meanwhile driven forward with policy's to open up our energy sector, including taking away local authority control on planning applications as it claims fracking is essential to improving our energy independence.

Last week UK energy minister, Claire Perry, said the tight regulations put in place after the Blackpool earthquakes could be relaxed. She said that monitoring systems were “set at an explicitly cautious level," the Guardian reported. "As we gain experience in applying these measures, the trigger levels can be adjusted upwards without compromising the effectiveness of the controls.”

Cuadrilla had hoped to start work at the site on Saturday but this was delayed by the effects of Storm Callum.

A spokesman said: "Due to the weather conditions yesterday afternoon and this morning, we will now start pumping on Monday.

"In high winds we couldn't use the crane to manoeuvre some equipment into place."

At a hearing in London on Friday, Mr Justice Supperstone dismissed Bob Dennett's application for an injunction preventing the company from fracking the UK's first horizontal shale gas well pending his proposed legal challenge.

Mr Dennett claimed Lancashire County Council's emergency response planning and procedures at the site were inadequate, but the judge ruled there was not a "serious issue" to be tried which would justify an interim order.

In a statement after the ruling, Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: "We are delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations as planned.

"We are now commencing the final operational phase to evaluate the commercial potential for a new source of indigenous natural gas in Lancashire.

"If commercially recoverable, this will displace costly imported gas with lower emissions, significant economic benefit and better security of energy supply for the UK."