Frack Off: Meet the Campaigners Protecting Lancashire from Fracking

About the Series

Since 2011, Cuadrilla has been trying to frack Lancashire. The company is at the vanguard of an industry that for almost a decade has failed to get off the ground. Finally, in 2018, they fracked for the first time.

DeSmog UK has regularly visited the community on the frontline of fighting the UK‘s newest fossil fuel industry. Our reporters have found local residents, first-time protestors, and long-term campaigners all distraught at what is happening at the Preston New Road site in Little Plumpton, that sits within sight of Blackpool’s famous tower.

In this series, we focus on the campaign community that has grown and evolved over the past three years. Cuadrilla may now be fracking, but the local community is still resisting.

In This Series

Opinion
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By Claire Stephenson, a campaigner with Frack Free Lancashire The announcement by the Conservative government last week, proclaiming they are ending their support for the shale gas industry in the...
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By Ruth Hayhurst for Drill or Drop After seven years of promoting fracking, Conservative ministers have withdrawn their support and blocked the prospects of a shale gas industry. The UK governmen...
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Image: Kristian Buus © Simon Roscoe Blevins swears softly, compulsively, and often. The criminal justice system is “shit”, he says. Fracking? It’s “fucked”. He’s a man familiar with both. Last ...
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As the protest at Preston New Road, Lancashire, marks its second anniversary, one mother and daughter look back on their unexpected transformation from a regular family into activists at the frontl...
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“It’s 4.21pm. I’m just saying. I’d like to say it’s all okay, but it’s really not. It sucks.” It’s difficult to hear Tina Rothery’s gloomy pronouncement, as heavy rain has just started to hammer t...
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On Tuesday 25 July 2017, four protestors stopped a convoy of lorries going to a fracking site in Lancashire. Today, three of the activists were sentenced to custodial sentences. Residents of Littl...
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There are fewer ribbons tied to the hedgerow, and most of the funny signs are gone. In their place stand weary protesters, greater in number than before, parallel to a bulked up security detail. “...
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“There’s something happening,” Nick tells me. “There’s a pattern to it”. He says this a lot. He’s always right. Nick Sheldrick is eagle-eyed. He’ll be the first to spot the policeman with red pip...