At the High Court in Manchester today (11th July 2018), Judge Pelling QC has awarded Cuadrilla and local farmers an extension until 1 June 2020 of the current interim injunction covering its shale gas exploration operations at Preston New Road (PNR), Lancashire.
The injunction forbids trespass on the company’s PNR shale gas exploration site and surrounding farmland. In addition the injunction:
- Prohibits unlawful obstruction of the site entrance and adjacent main “A583” road¹. This includes “lock-ons” (chaining oneself to an object or another person to deliberately prevent access) and climbing onto, or slow walking in front of, vehicles accessing or leaving the site;
- Unlawful disruption of named Cuadrilla suppliers by, for example, blockading supplier properties is also covered by the injunction. The list of organisations covered are listed on Cuadrilla’s website (https://cuadrillaresources.com/about-cuadrilla/suppliers/ )
Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said:
“We are very pleased that the High Court has seen fit to extend the injunction until 1 June 2020. We firmly believe that this is an important deterrent to unlawful protest that has significantly disrupted and inconvenienced local commuters and businesses over many months. We have seen a welcome reduction in unlawful behaviour since the interim injunction was granted last month. We continue to respect lawful and peaceful protest, but will not hesitate to take legal action against those that breach the injunction with unlawful activity directed against us or our listed suppliers.”
All papers regarding the injunction can be found at this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/isnre2562esz43h/AADxx_pbLq31WC8dyEA2M-71a?dl=0
¹ The area covered is the whole of the Preston New Road (A583) between the junction with Peel Hill to the North West and 50 meters to the east of the vehicular entrance to the PNR Site
