Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Meeting with fracking firm and lobbyists 2016

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

Emails released under freedom of information rules reveal that lobbyists Lexington Communications and fracking firm Cuadrilla Resources met with council staff and also requested meetings with Barnsley's council leader in June 2016.

A meeting took place on 16 December 2015 between Cuadrilla and BMBC offices at Cuadrilla’s request. The meeting request was made by Cuadrilla following the government’s publication of license blocks for oil and shale gas exploration. BMBC was identified in two of the licensed blocks within the Boland basin. Cuadrilla asked to meet with BMBC given their interest in the government licence. The meeting was concerned with a brief introduction of Cuadrilla to the Council and a discussion on the license process.

Please find attached to the covering email, three email attachments between Lexington Communications, who are agents for Cuadrilla and the Council. The emails have been redacted under Regulation 12(3) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, to protect the identity of third party individuals. These discussions/meetings are very much in the infancy stages, as shown by the content and dates of the emails.

People

• David Shepherd, service director economic regeneration attended the meeting with Cuadrilla and Lexington.

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