Consternation over plans to 'give green light' for fracking

The controversial practice involves drilling small but deep holes in the ground, before triggering small explosions, and then harnessing the gas as it is brought to the surface.

Supporters say it could help alleviate energy shortage concerns, while critics argue the practice is unsafe. Burning further hydrocarbons will exacerbate climate change.

The moratorium was put in place in 2019, when now-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was the minister for energy, clean growth and climate change.

It means sites across Yorkshire, including Harthill and Woodsetts could soon become active again, despite long-running opposition against the plans.

Alongside the fracking announcement came news around 100 new licences would be fast-tracked for new drilling in the North Sea.

As well as climate concerns, doubts have also been raised about the speed with which any new energy could be produced.

Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee Darren Jones said: “Fracking and new drilling in the North Sea will do nothing to change prices and won’t produce new energy for at least half a decade.

“They will however make it much harder for the U.K. to hit its net zero targets to tackle climate change.”

Countryside and environmental groups, as well as Labour, have been quick to criticise the Government’s change of direction.

Tom Fyans, director of campaigns and policy at the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, said: “Giving fracking the green light is a hideous mistake.

“If the purpose is to tackle bank busting gas prices, it’s an exercise in futility.

“Even if we were to go full steam ahead on fracking, which nobody wants, least of all rural communities, it wouldn’t make a dent on the cost of energy anytime soon, or ever.

“Any move to industrialise the countryside and belch yet more fumes into our carbon-soaked atmosphere will prompt a furious response from local communities, drawn out planning delays and nationwide protests. Hardly a proposal to keep families warm this winter, or lower bills in the future.

‘The new Chancellor got it right in March, when he said fracking “would take up to a decade to extract sufficient volumes — and it would come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside.

“Nothing has changed.”

Concerns have also been aired over whether the policy change would contribute in any meaningful way to efforts to diversify the UK’s energy supply.

During the campaign trail, and again in the energy announcement today, Prime Minister Truss said she would not oppose fracking ‘where there was local support for it’.

Brian Mullin, partner and head of planning consultancy Marrons Planning, said: “The suggested mechanism for seeking planning permission for fracking appears to be very similar to the community consent mechanism required for onshore wind permissions.

“On the basis of past evidence, it is highly doubtful the fracking industry will meaningfully contribute to energy supply in the UK.

“A 2015 Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) based on a Conservative manifesto pledge to ‘change the law so local people have the final say on wind farm applications’ was followed by the somewhat toothless National Planning Policy Framework commitment to ‘approve the application if its impacts are, or can be made, acceptable’.

“To give an understanding of the effect of this mechanism, 16 new turbines were granted planning permission between 2016 and 2020 across England – representing a 96 per cent decrease compared to the 435 turbines permitted for construction on 108 different sites between 2011 and 2015.”

Rother Valley’s Conservative MP, Alexander Stafford, has spoken against fracking in his constituency, stating in 2021 that he is “resolutely and absolutely opposed to fracking in any form, as are the majority of residents across the North and the Midlands.”

He added: “My professional background consists of working for WWF and Shell on environmental issues, so I know all too well how harmful fracking can be to our local communities.

“We should not be focusing on yesterday’s technology such as fracking.

“The writing is on the wall that fracking has no future in Rother Valley, in the blue wall, or in the United Kingdom.”