THE government’s decision to give Cuadrilla permission to frack a second horizontal well in Lancashire shows “utter contempt” for local residents, campaigners said yesterday.

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy announced that it was granting the company permission to frack a second well at its Preston New Road site near Blackpool.

Energy and clean growth Minister Claire Perry wrote to Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan to inform him that she was “satisfied that it is appropriate” to grant permission for fracking to go ahead.

Mr Egan said he was “delighted” with the government’s decision, adding: “We are very proud to be the first operator in the UK to make significant headway in shale gas exploration.”

But local anti-fracking campaigner Richard Marshall told Drill or Drop: “Claire Perry shows utter contempt for the people who will suffer the consequences of fracking. Even members of her party agree that decisions on planning should be left to local authorities.

“She is totally ignoring all the evidence that says fracking will increase pollution and threaten water supplies. It is shameful that this government are putting people’s lives at risk.”

A spokesperson for Frack Free Lancashire said it was “unsurprising that the pro-fracking UK government have, yet again, waved away the myriad of issues around fracking and granted permission for Cuadrilla’s second well to be hydraulically fractured.”

Green MP Caroline Lucas accused Ms Perry of having “deliberately signed off this second well during recess so that MPs, including many from her own party who are opposed to this move, can’t hold her to account.”

Ms Perry said Britain’s “world class regulations will ensure that shale exploration will maintain robust environmental standards and meet the expectations of local communities.”