Lancashire For Shale members at Blackpool, Lancashire, UK. 21st February, 2015. Supporters Blackpool Fracking for a Better Future. Pro-fracking Demonstration with groups calling for Prosperity not Poverty by a group of people from Marton, with placards, pamphlets and petitions, who have become increasingly depressed by the deprivation in Blackpool and who are in favour of the experimental Fracking site & shale gas drilling in Westby-By-Plumpton, Blackpool, being managed by Cuadrilla Resources.
Press Release "Blackpool’s Tide is Turning in Support of Fracking A group of locals, motivated by the continued economic decline in Blackpool, took to the street to show support for the Shale Gas Industry on Saturday. They arrived with placards, pamphlets and petitions to capitalise on phenomenal online support with their Facebook page gaining over five hundred members in less than a week. This would appear to be the first pro-fracking demonstration of its kind but spokesperson for the group, Michael Beardall, was keen to stress, “it’s about jobs in Blackpool, turning round the economic decline and highlight that almost a third of all local children are living in poverty. This needs to change but without industry, what future do we have? I also have friends from Preston who share the concerns and they were livid that people were bussed in from all over the country to protest outside the Lancashire County Council offices.” Despite the protest lasting little more than an hour, over one hundred signatures were collected in St John’s Square. One signatory, who did not want to be named, claimed he had opposed fracking but changed his opinion following a presentation by Professor Joe Howe the previous evening at the Cleveleys Community centre. Michael also said it was great to engage with other local people to discuss the decline of our great town and that by engaging from that angle people better understood the need for industry in Blackpool. When asked about his concerns over the dangers associated with fracking, he said, “I don’t claim to be an expert, so I leave that to the experts. Leading academics say it’s safe, the Environment Agency say it’s safe and the council planners did not raise any concerns over safety. I suppose the question is, do I listen to professionals in their field or do I listen to the scare stories spread by NIMBYs?”
Size: 3600px × 2400px
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: adult, adults, assemble, blackpool, bring, britain, british, campaign, campaigning, crowd, decline, demo, democracy, democrats, demonstrate, demonstration, disenchanted, disillusioned, downtown, economic, economy, editorial, election, employment, energy, england, english, enthusiasm, equality, eu, europe, expression, favour, figure, figures, fracking, future, gas, government, great, group, groups, hold, holding, industry, interest, interests, issues, job, jobs, john’, kingdom, male, man, momentum, north, oppose, organisation, pamphlet, pamphlets, people, person, persons, petition, petitions, placards, political, politician, politics, poverty, pro, pro-fracking, pro-gas, pro-industry, protest, protesting, race, rally, rights, shale, signatory, signatures, signing, signs, square, st, street, support, supporter, supporters, supporting, supports, town, uk, unconventional, united, voters, widespread
