A LABOUR council gave the thumbs up yesterday to plans for a fracking site in Lancashire despite concerns over the negative effects it would have on residents’ lives.

Lancashire County Council planning officers published a series of recommendations to shale company Cuadrilla’s application to build a new hydraulic fracturing plant in Preston.

A final decision will be taken next week by the council’s development control committee.

Local resident and Frack Free Lancashire spokesman Bob Dennett told the Star that campaigners were not surprised with the result but that it wasn’t the final decision, which “lies with the planning committee.”

Mr Dennett warned that if the application passed it could “set a precedent not just for Lancashire but for the whole of the UK.

“While Cuadrilla’s application says that it is applying for exploration, if you read the environmental impact statement, you will see that it is actually going for production under the guise of extended flow testing.”

Previous applications had been rejected by planning officers due to concerns over the noise impact which would “unnecessarily and unacceptably” affect Preston New Road’s neighbours.

“The implications really don’t bear thinking about,” added Mr Dennett.

“The government and the industry are in denial over the negative impacts of fracking that are appearing in other countries in the world.

“There’s water contamination, there’s environmental contamination, there are cancer clusters around the areas where they have undertaken fracking, all caused by the environmental pollution this process creates.”

Fracking is a process of gas extraction which involves pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure underground to fracture shale rock and release the gas trapped in it.

Planners’ recommendations on Cuadrilla’s application for exploring a second site nearby were however less positive, arguing work would increase traffic and have an “unacceptable impact” on rural roads.

A spokesman for Cuadrilla said it was “disappointed” over the rejected site, but welcomed the positive proposals supporting fracking on Preston New Road.