Cuadrilla has today (11 August) issued an update to its “Putting Lancashire First” commitments tracker to include figures to 30th June 2017. The latest figures show that the site construction work during April to June this year, at the company’s shale gas exploration site at Preston New Road in Lancashire, has more than doubled the total of direct and indirect spend into the county from Cuadrilla and its suppliers. The total Lancashire spend as at end June amounts to £2.9 million compared to £1.4 million as at 31st March 2017. A further nine full time jobs were also created during this period.
Lancashire businesses registering with the Supply Chain Portal (www.shalegaslancashire.co.uk) managed by both Lancashire Chambers of Commerce in order to be considered for contracts connected to the Preston New Road operations also increased to 569.
Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said: “These figures clearly demonstrate that our Preston New Road exploration site in Lancashire has already significantly boosted the county’s economy as well as creating jobs for local people. As we start drilling the first exploration wells within the coming week we are proud to continue to put Lancashire first in order to ensure the county continues to benefit from this important national need of exploring for a new indigenous source of natural gas.”
In December 2016 CEO Francis Egan signed six public commitments to the county of Lancashire to commit Cuadrilla to putting Lancashire first in terms of creating jobs, investment, new skills and community initiatives as a result of shale gas exploration and, if exploration is successful, shale gas production in Lancashire. The tracker figures have been independently verified by Danbro Accounting Ltd. The next tracker update will include figures to 30th September 2017.
