CAMPAIGNERS blocked all the entrances to a Bolton engineering firm as they protested against its role in a fracking project in Lancashire.

Two people locked themselves to the main gates of AE Yates’ headquarters in Cranfield Road, Lostock, at around 5.30am yesterday.

The company has a £1.5million contract to build a shale gas exploration site at the Little Plumpton site in Lancashire by drilling firm Cuadrilla.

The campaigners estimated that there were around 50 people present supporting the two people locked to the gate.

There was a police presence at the protest and the two people were cut from a gate by officers.

Protests have been going on outside the AE Yates site since January and was the second held this month.

This is the latest protest that has been held outside the AE Yates site and the second this month.

The protesters said that as long as AE Yates has contracts with Cuadrilla they can expect ‘determined and peaceful’ resistance’.

There are concerns over the affects that fracking has on health and also the environment.

The protests have been organised by Lancaster Climate Action.

Following the protest at the start of May, Paul Boron, managing director at AE Yates, said that the protests generally disrupt business but it is something the company will have to deal with. In March Mr Boron said that the protests but jobs at risk.

In February, Horwich quarry operators Armstrong Aggregates cancelled its contract to provide the company and Cuadrilla with materials for the building of the Little Plumpton site.

A spokesman for the protesters said: “The people of Lancashire said a clear no to these fracking sites. National government overturned the democratic decision of our council. For as long as A E Yates have contracts with Cuadrilla they can expect determined and peaceful resistance.”

Lancashire County Council originally rejected the plans for the drilling site but this was controversially overturned by the government on appeal last year.

Cuadrilla believe that 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is trapped in the shale rock in its licence area in Lancashire.

It believes that shale gas exploration will create jobs, investment, new skills and community initiatives in Lancashire.

The Bolton News has contacted AE Yates for a comment on the latest protest, but had not received a response.