An environmental campaigner has launched a bid to continue a legal fight against a Government decision to approve a fracking site in Lancashire.
Last month, a High Court judge dismissed judicial review actions brought by Gayzer Frackman and the Preston New Road Action Group (PNRAG).
They had urged Mr Justice Dove to find the decision to grant a planning application for the site in Fylde was not fair or lawful.
Following the High Court defeat, Mr Frackman is now seeking permission to challenge the judge’s findings at the Court of Appeal.
Mr Justice Dove was told the planning application by developer Cuadrilla was refused by Lancashire County Council in 2015, but later granted following an appeal and a planning inquiry.
The scheme was given the go-ahead in October by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.
Mr Frackman’s lawyers told the judge the site would lead to a “considerable quantity of greenhouse gas emissions”.
On behalf of PNRAG it was argued that a planning inspector’s decision that the site would not have a significant impact on the landscape because it was only granted permission for a temporary period was not lawful and breached the council’s development plan.
Mr Frackman, from Blackpool, said in a statement on Monday: “This case is vitally important because it seeks to hold the Government to account for failing to protect its citizens from the health impacts of fracking and the untold damage it will cause to our environment and those living near the site.
“We do not consider the regulatory system in the UK is sufficiently robust to ensure that shale gas extraction is safe for local residents.
“Moreover, it is our view that the Government is simply wrong to permit so-called ’exploratory’ fracking when, in fact, the operations will amount to full-scale production in disguise.”
Environmental law barrister, Marc Willers QC, of Garden Court Chambers, who is representing Mr Frackman, said: “We are taking this case to the Court of Appeal on the basis the Government did not fully assess the impact of greenhouse gas emissions likely to be generated from the site over the next three years, before it approved fracking on the site, contrary to the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations.
“The appeal also questions whether it was safe for the Government to grant permission for fracking in the absence of a robust regulatory system that ensures fracking can be carried out without risk to health and with minimal damage to the environment.”
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