YP Letters: Election outcome may save us from fracking

THERE are some confused folk in North Yorkshire who seem to think the General Election was a referendum on fracking.

In Thirsk and Malton, there wasn’t a single statement in favour of the industry in any election literature, let alone that of the successful candidate Kevin Hollinrake.

I suspect therefore that the unconventional gas industry wasn’t at the top of most voters’ lists of concerns: it’s rather hard to vote in favour of something if nobody’s actively campaigned for it.

Happily, the chaotic national election result may well protect us from Tory manifesto pledges to water down regulations so that a two acre exploratory well pad with six to nine months of construction and drilling could pop up anywhere and would need as little planning permission as putting up a garden shed. Not to mention a promise (yes, a promise!) 
to take any subsequent 
decision on fracking out of 
local hands.

Having seen first-hand what this industry has done 
to communities in Pennsylvania, I, for one, hope we won’t go 
down that road.