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| Council blocks Little Plumpton fracking application | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An application to start fracking at a site in Lancashire has been rejected. | |
| Energy firm Cuadrilla wanted to extract shale gas at the site between Preston and Blackpool. | Energy firm Cuadrilla wanted to extract shale gas at the site between Preston and Blackpool. |
| The Little Plumpton bid had been recommended for approval by Lancashire County Council's planning officials, subject to working hours, noise control and highway matters. | |
| But councillors rejected the advice and have voted 10-4 to refuse the application. | |
| It followed a refusal motion which rejected the bid on the grounds of "unacceptable noise impact" and the "adverse urbanising effect on the landscape". | |
| A legal adviser had said any attempt to block fracking at the Little Plumpton site on environmental grounds would be "unreasonable" and costly. | |
| Fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - was suspended in the UK in 2011 following earth tremors in Blackpool where Cuadrilla previously drilled. | |
| It is a technique in which water and chemicals are pumped into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas. | |
| BBC News Online reporter, Helen Carter | |
| For a moment, there was silence as the planning committee voted on a motion to turn down the Little Plumpton planning application. | |
| That was followed by a huge roar of approval and a boo as two councillors had abstained. | |
| People wept openly but they were tears of joy, not disappointment. | |
| A chorus of "Frack free Lancashire" sounded outside County Hall. Then "Frack free world." | |
| Fylde deputy mayor Karen Speak said she felt like she had won the lottery. | |
| Jamie Peters of Friends of the Earth wept and said it "shows people power has worked." He said it had been grassroots campaigning. "The councillors have listened to what people want," he said. | |
| Chris Riley from Kirkham said it was brilliant they had overturned both decisions, adding: "We were hoping they would, but they couldn't possibly go ahead with the damage it would cause." | |
| Another protester said: "It is brilliant. But this is just round one." |