In an interview with BBC Radio Lancashire, the Prime Minister said she was not familiar with the Preston New Road site in the county and had never visited. Climate journalism, open to all Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site is the only place in the UK where fracking has taken place. Drilling was halted after a series of earthquakes led to a moratorium on fracking lifted by the Truss government last week. Presenter Graham Liver asked her: “We’re the only area in the country that has done it, and it caused earthquakes, people’s houses were shaking. Why do you think it’s safe to continue because nothing of the science has changed?’ Truss replied: “What I want to be clear about is that we will only go ahead with fracking in areas where there is local community support for it… Fracking is being done very safely in various parts of the world and the business secretary will make sure that any fracking that takes place is safe.” Liver pressed her on how to get local consent for fracking. He cited two local MPs – Scott Benton, the Conservative MP for Blackpool South, and Mark Menzies, the Conservative MP for Fylde – who had suggested that people in their areas should not support the drilling. Menzies asked in the House of Commons how local communities would consent. BBC Radio Lancashire: Truss struggles to explain ‘local consent’ mechanism for fracking – audio Discussions have been held at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy about promoting sites without local approval, labeling them as National Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). “What does local consensus look like?” asked the liver. Truss hesitated for several seconds before answering. “The Secretary of Energy will present, er, in more detail exactly what that looks like, but that means making sure there’s local support to move forward…” The most important stories on the planet. Get all the week’s environmental news – the good, the bad and the must-haves Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “Sounds like you don’t know,” Liver said. “Well, there are various fine-grained issues that need to be worked out,” Truss said. “But I can assure Mark Menzies that I will make sure there is local consent if we are going to go ahead with fracking in any particular area.” Liver said: “Your local MPs don’t want it. All conservative. In the past, the county council has said it didn’t want it. However, your government reversed this. The science hasn’t changed. Why can’t you tell us this morning that there will be no return to fracking in Lancashire?’ Truss replied that it was important to understand that the government wanted to pursue fracking to generate more domestic energy for the UK.
