Blackpool's Reform UK councillors refuse to vote in motion condemning fracking

PLUS: What are the ambitious plans for Stanley Park?

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

Reform UK, nationally, want to frack. Reform UK locally (at Lancashire County Council, at least) want to frack - just not here.

It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that the topic has made its way to Blackpool Council, where the local Reform UK leader Jim O’Neill has already expressed his support for it.

Cllr Emma Ellison’s views on fracking are less well-known, and that remains the case after a meeting where she conceded to not knowing enough on the topic to vote on the matter.

We also look in-depth at the plans to regenerate Stanley Park - taking a 16-page document and poring over it so you don’t have to.

Reform UK councillor leaves meeting before vote to condemn fracking

Cllr Jim O’Neill makes his exit

By Jamie Lopez

Blackpool’s two Reform councillors have refused to vote in a motion condemning fracking - with one leaving the room during the debate before votes were cast.

The motion, which was raised at a full Blackpool Council meeting last week, called for the council to condemn comments made by senior Reform figures, while also writing to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to ask him to ensure Cuadrilla convert their Lancashire sites into agricultural use before 2027 and to “support research that evidences the full environmental impact of shale gas extraction on Blackpool and the surrounding Lancashire area”.

It was brought forward by Conservative group leader Cllr Paul Galley at the conclusion of a heated, four-hour meeting during which councillors clashed both over issues and their conduct towards each other. At one point, deputy leader Cllr Neal Brookes suggested that those persisting with poor behaviour should be sent out of the room for 15 minutes at a time.

As he presented the motion, Cllr Galley directly challenged the two Reform councillors - Jim O’Neil and Emma Ellison - to speak about the issue and explain their stances, while warning he believed that the party’s attitude to the practice would actually not be decided locally but dictated from above by Nigel Farage or Richard Tice.

He described Tice’s comments - which compared the earthquakes caused by fracking in Lancashire equivalent to dropping “a melon from your shoulder-height” - as “dreadful”.

“These guys are the ones who are going to end up potentially running the energy supply of this country and the damage that they will do, the damage that they will impose on us and local Reform members won’t stand a chance. You will be pushed aside.”

Cllr Galley said the motion was an opportunity for all councillors to collectively condemn those comments and “send a strong message that Blackpool does not want fracking in this area”. He also described it as an opportunity for the Reform councillors to condemn Tice’s comments.

In response, Cllr O’Neill accused Cllr Galley of making a “political point” and said he would abstain on the basis that only the national government can ban fracking. He added: “I am delighted Reform are living rent-free in so many people’s heads.”

After multiple councillors spoke in support of the motion and gave praise to the protestors who spent years at the site, Cllr Ellison suggested she was not informed enough on the subject to have an opinion. She also implied that upcoming devolution meant it wasn’t worth making a decision.

She said: “Having not been a Lancashire County councillor, I’ve not seen all the reports into this and we’ve never had a vote in Blackpool or anywhere other than Lancashire County Council on this issue so it’s not something I’ve ever, to be honest, looked into in any depth.

“The thing is with the reorganisation who knows if any one of us will end up being part of this new authority and having a vote so for that reason I’m just going to abstain as well.”

This was greeted by a loud reaction and seconds later Cllr O’Neill left the chamber before the vote could take place.

In response, Cllr Galley told the meeting: “There is a symbol, I believe, of what awaits this country if Reform ever take over. Chaos.”

He then proceeded to explain that Blackpool Council did previously vote on the issue in 2019 as part of a wider climate change conversation.

Cllr Galley added: “I’m not surprised by Reform’s stance. It combines two things. One is ‘we won’t condemn Richard Tice’ who’s your master and Nigel Farage who’s your cult leader.

“And then it combines with ‘I don’t know so therefore I won’t do anything’. Well I suggest you educate yourself and then you would know and then you’d be able to make informed decisions about things that matter to you.”

Cllr Ellison voted to abstain, while Cllr O’Neill did not return to vote. All of the other 33 councillors present voted in support of the motion.

Under the skin of plans to restore Stanley Park over the next five years

By Michael Holmes

There are plans to restore Blackpool’s 99-year-old Stanley Park to its former glory over the next five years - with town hall bosses “applying a modern approach whilst being sensitive to the historical value”.