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Little Plumpton fracking decision due Lancashire fracking decision deferred until Monday
(about 4 hours later)
An application to start the first fracking operation in the UK for four years will be decided later. The decision on whether to give the go-ahead to fracking for shale gas in Lancashire has been deferred, while councillors consider legal advice.
Energy firm Cuadrilla wants to extract shale gas at Little Plumpton and Roseacre Wood on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire. Energy firm Cuadrilla wants to extract shale gas at Little Plumpton and Roseacre Wood on the Fylde Coast.
The county council began considering the bid on Tuesday, after fracking was suspended in the UK in 2011. The county council began considering the Little Plumpton bid on Tuesday, after fracking was suspended in the UK in 2011.
Councillors are due to make a decision about the Little Plumpton site, which has been recommended for approval. It will resume its debate of the proposal on Monday.
The site's approval is subject to working hours, noise control and highway matters. About 200 protesters waited outside County Hall in Preston for a decision that never came.
Protests were held outside the hearing at Lancashire County Council's County Hall in Preston on Tuesday. Following a session of legal discussion held in private, the committee's deputy chairman, councillor Kevin Ellard (Labour), put forward a motion to reject the plan on the grounds it did not meet planning guidelines, such as visual impact and landscape.
At the scene The motion failed but councillor Paul Hayhurst (Independent) told the hearing the legal advice should be made public.
Helen Carter, BBC News A motion was then passed to publish but by the time it arrived at 17:00 BST councillors decided it was too late in the day to make a decision.
Surrounded by anti-fracking placards, about 200 protesters wait patiently for the decision on Little Plumpton. Karen Merritt of Lytham welcomed the deferral so objectors could consider the legal advice, adding, "I don't think deferring until Monday gives us long enough".
Although there is a large police presence, the atmosphere is almost carnival-like. And Jasper Singh, of Friends of the Earth Lancashire, agreed more time was needed and described the councillors as "not behaving democratically".
A guitarist plays, passing motorists honk horns in support, a cyclist sounds his bell and smiles. Earlier the meeting of the county council's development control committee heard councillors had been under "intolerable pressure" in making the final ruling on the controversial process.
Gayzer Frackman, a former children's entertainer from Lytham who changed his surname by deed poll, said fracking would "poison the water, air and soil." Councillors are expected to make a decision on the application for the Roseacre Wood site on Friday.
On a wall opposite the municipal building, Jasper Singh, of Friends of the Earth Lancashire, chalks the names of people in America whose health was allegedly affected by fracking. That application has been recommended for refusal, with planning officers maintaining there would be "an unacceptable impact" on rural roads.
He said the Northern Powerhouse needed to be built on renewable energy and there were already enough "dirty fossil fuels."
Karen Merritt of Lytham said: "When I originally saw the report about fracking I thought it could bring jobs to Blackpool and the Fylde."
But she is now convinced "the benefits would be temporary and most of the jobs would be for people out of the area".
Seventy people - for and against fracking - are to speak during the four-day council meeting.
A decision on the application for Roseacre Wood, which has been recommended for refusal, is due on Friday.
Fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - is a technique in which water and chemicals are pumped into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas.Fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - is a technique in which water and chemicals are pumped into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas.