Fleetwood council opposes gas storage plans as TUSC councillor calls for mass campaign

Fleetwood town council has voted to oppose controversial plans by the Halite Energy company to build a gas storage facility on the Fylde Coast.

The government Department of Energy and Climate Change has recently granted permission to Hailte to develop a huge underground gas storage scheme in salt caverns at Preesall (Over Wyre), in Lancashire, despite massive public opposition.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Fleetwood town councillor Simon Roberts had organised a protest before the council meeting on August 25, which drew together members of the public including Preesall residents and anti-fracking campaigners.

Councillor Roberts welcomed the unusually high turnout of the public to the council meeting and, speaking during the council debate, said:

"I believe we need a mass campaign to oppose gas storage, just like the anti-fracking campaign which as a TUSC town councillor I have been a long-term supporter of. The Tory government are advocating the pursuit of profit with no regard to either democracy or the health risk to our community, and we need to work together to oppose this".

He added: "As a socialist I believe the long-term approach to solving these problems will be to nationalise the energy companies under democratic workers' control to eliminate the profit motive. Furthermore I support renewable energy policies which will provide safe clean energy and create many more badly-needed jobs for our community".

Councillor Roberts, elected in May as a TUSC candidate, is the Planning Ambassador for the town council.