Anti-Fracking demonstrators from across the UK gather in Preston the headquarters of Lancashire County Council. Councillors are debating whether to give the go-ahead to two applications to Frack in the County by energy firm Cuadrilla

Lancashire County Council has rejected an application from Cuadrilla to frack at two sites in Lancashire.

Applause broke out in the public benches that quickly echoed onto social media to welcome the decision.

Francis Egan, chief executive officer of Cuadrilla, said: “We will be looking closely at the decisions but we believe we have strong grounds to appeal.”

Most welcomed the decision to reject fracking but others questioned the financial impact it might have on the area.

Nine of the councillors on the committee of 14 chose to reject the proposals.

The grounds for refusing the application were visual impact and unacceptable noise.

The news will be particularly welcome to those who protested the prospect of fracking last week.

You can see images from those protests here.

The online response to the news is available below.