Cuadrilla Resources first attempted to frack in Lancashire in 2011, but tremors from its work led to a short-lived national moratorium on the activities. The company has since suffered planning rejections, a dive in fracking’s popularity with the UK public, and constant protest against its plans. But it has not given up.

In October 2016, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid overruled Lancashire County Council’s rejection of Cuadrilla’s planning permission to frack at its Preston New Road site. The company moved onto the site in January 2017. Its activities have been met with daily protests ever since.

This investigation casts light on the tactics Cuadrilla uses to circumvent planning restrictions on its activities: from allowing vehicles to take non-preffered routes into its site, to changing planning rules to better suit its activities, and lobbying to remove opponents from forums where the company can be publicly challenged.