United Yorkshire and Lancashire anti-fracking campaigners complete 120-mile march

Protestors from both sides of the Pennines united on Wednesday when a group of Green Party councillors set off from the anti-fracking camp near Kirby Misperton, one of only two UK sites to be given the go-ahead to frack.

And, after being joined by 100 anti-fracking campaigners from Lancashire on the five-mile home stretch, the Yorkshire walkers finished their epic journey at Preston New Road in Blackpool at around 3.30pm.

Coun Andrew Cooper, walker and Green Party spokesman for energy and the environment, told The Yorkshire Post: “We met a huge number of folks from Frack Free Lancashire, and around 100 walked with us for the last five miles to the finish line which was really nice.

“They put all our Yorkshire walkers’ feet in bowls of water when we arrived.”

At the finish, the campaigners mixed soil which they carried from Kirby Misperton with Lancashire soil, and planted a tree.

Coun Cooper added: “The tree demonstrates the unity in the different communities of Lancashire and Yorkshire in opposing fracking.

“This isn’t a Lancashire or Yorkshire struggle, it’s everybody’s struggle.

"We found on our march that most people opposed fracking. We should be investing in energy efficiency, not nuclear and fracking."