They were so determined to stop construction work that they had rigged up a network and walkways and hammocks in the tree tops, thirty feet above ground.

It took a small army of riot police and professional abseilers to get them down from the trees and secure the site.

This was in the mid 1990s, in Stanworth Wood, the ancient woodland west of Blackburn, in the line of the M65 motorway. There’d been 30 years of debate about the M65’s route.

No more than anyone else did I want to see countryside despoiled unnecessarily, but the motorway was crucial to East Lancashire’s survival. This route was the least bad – and certainly much better than the previous ‘preferred option’ which would have gone through the middle of Blackburn.

Very few of the “eco-warriors” in the trees came from East Lancashire. They disappeared as quickly as they’d arrived.

We’re going to see a similar phenomenon over fracking, with protesters trying to disrupt the ‘exploration sites’, including two new ones just announced for the Fylde.

I don’t agree with those who oppose fracking, but I’ll defend their right to lawful protest – provided that does not stop the exploration companies from going about their lawful business.

This can, in any event, only take place within a strict regulatory framework, and after approval by the planning authorities.

I hope, however, that the ‘theatre’ around the protests does not drown out the arguments in favour of fracking. One essential is for the maximum to be done to minimise the effects of fracking on local residents.

The other is to ensure the people of Lancashire benefit properly from the tax revenues the Government will take when fracking wells become productive. That’s why Lancashire MPs and council leaders of all parties are pressing the Government for 10 per cent of revenues from shale gas production to stay in our county.

But make no mistake. The huge Bowland Shale, which extends under East Lancashire too, has the potential to make an even bigger difference to Lancashire’s economic fortunes as our motorway network has done.