COUNCILLORS today turned down the second of two plans to frack for shale gas in Lancashire.

Energy firm Cuadrilla wanted to undertake exploratory drilling and fracking at the sites between Preston and Blackpool.

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This morning the development control committee of Lancashire County Council rejected the scheme at Little Plumpton despite planning officials recommending approval subject to a number of conditions.

On Friday their councillors had turned down a similar application to frack for shale gas at nearby Roseacre Wood.

Members of the council's development control committee voted 10-4 to reject the Little Plumpton application which had been delayed from Thursday to examining legal advice.

The two decisions were welcomed by anti fracking campaigners concerned approval for either of the schemes could have led to similar bids in East Lancashire.

In June 2013 a study by the British Geological Survey identified the M65 corridor north of Blackburn through Burnley to Colne and down the Rossendale valley as sitting on sufficient shale gas reserves to make the copntroverisal process viable.

Friends of the Earth North-West campaigner Furqan Naeem, said: “People in Lancashire and across the UK who have been tirelessly campaigning against fracking will breathe a sigh of relief today - safe in the knowledge that this dirty industry that risks health, quality of life and the climate, has been stopped in its tracks once again. “