Sometimes, victories seem rather hollow. We all celebrated a few months back when it looked as though Canatxx facility at Preesall had been ditched. But it was not to be – Canataxx are back, and just as determined to see their plans through. Wyre’s Tory MP Ben Wallace, a prominent opponent of the gas plans has said: “Which part of ‘No’ does Canatxx not understand?”. And he’s quite right. Canatxx are continuing to lobby hard – they held an exhibition for the public at Wyre Villa FC over in Preesall last month. Worth noting they didn’t hold one on this side of the estuary – even though the bulk of opposition to the last planning application came from the west bank. Too scared?

It is ironic also that just as Canatxx are trying again, the Cirrus Shell Flat Array has gone by the board. The project partners, CeltPower Ltd, Dong Energy and Shell WindEnergy Ltd, have taken the decision to withdraw application for permission to develop an offshore wind project off the coast. Their website says that “the project team has put a great deal of effort into addressing concerns raised both on the original Shell Flat site and the subsequent application for Cirrus Shell Flat Array. Unfortunately, despite these efforts and the re-location of the site in 2005 to overcome concerns about birds, it has not been possible to resolve underlying concerns about aviation and the project is therefore discontinued”.

There is no doubt a bit more to this than meets the eye – or rather more than just what appears in a terse press release. I shall be keeping my ear to the ground – on both the windfarm and Canatxx.