CUADRILLA starting construction of fracking wells in Lancashire is a dark day for our future.

The fracking fiasco is rotten the whole way through. The immediate issue of the government overturning the county council’s decision and rejecting the wishes of residents is utterly shameful.

For good reasons they oppose fracking, in which toxic sludge is shot into the ground at high pressure to smash sub-surface rocks and release gas. Building the wells and associated facilities tears up the countryside and there are numerous documented accounts of earth tremors and released gas poisoning groundwater.