Emergency measures
Cuadrilla recently submitted an application to vary their planning permission at Preston New Road.
As part of this they submitted a Supporting Statement
This supporting statement was approved by no less than the Chief Executive of Cuadrilla as can be seen here:
In this supporting statement they made the following highly inflammatory claim
Emergency Calls
During the month of July 2017, there was a number of occasions where ambulances responding to emergency calls were unable to get to their destination using the fastest possible route due to incidents outside of the Preston New Road site. On such occasions, the ambulance returned to the M55 and used Junction 3 to arrive at their destination.
As nobody in Frack Free Lancashire was aware of these alleged incidents, a Freedom of Information request was made to the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
Within Cuadrilla Resources Ltd’s recent application (dated 13 October 2017) to adjust planning permission at their Preston New Road site in Lancashire, they have made the following statement:
“During the month of July 2017, there was a number of occasions where ambulances responding to emergency calls were unable to get to their destination using the fastest possible route due to incidents outside of the Preston New Road site. On such occasions, the ambulance returned to the M55 and used Junction 3 to arrive at their destination.”
Please could you confirm whether this statement is in fact true or not, and provide any correspondence, via email or other records, that would support this claim.
Please also provide any correspondence between yourselves and Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, that may have occurred surrounding this claim
The reply was fairly instant
Further to your enquiry below, I have made contact with the local area manager, Head of Service for Lancashire and our legal department and they are all unaware of any formal submission of this information. I also confirm that we are unable to provided statistics in relation to ambulance delays experienced whilst en-route to incidents, as our reporting system does not capture this level of information.
I hope this information is of assistance.
We would like to know what evidence Cuadrilla have for suggesting that ambulances were hindered, given that even those who manage the service appear unaware of any such issues.
We have written as shown below to the Cuadrilla Information Line and will post any response that we get here.
Dear Sir / Madam
In your recent application to vary planning permission at Preston New Road you made a claim that:
“During the month of July 2017, there was a number of occasions where ambulances responding to emergency calls were unable to get to their destination using the fastest possible route due to incidents outside of the Preston New Road site. On such occasions, the ambulance returned to the M55 and used Junction 3 to arrive at their destination.”
However, according to an FoI response, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust appear to be unaware of any request from yourselves for information relating to this and therefore logically cannot have provided any to you. They also state that their reporting systems does not capture sufficient detail to provide statistics in relation to ambulance delays experienced whilst en-route to incidents.
Accordingly, I would like to ask what evidence you have for you claim above and what is its source.
I look forward to your response
Those of you with sharp eyes may already have had a hollow laugh at the description on of one of the consultees listed on the application details.
