Yorkshire fracking 'blocked' by minority of campaigners, claims energy tsar Natascha Engel

Natascha Engel, shale gas commissioner, dramatically resigned yesterday after six months in the role, claiming Government policies around the process mean there is “no purpose” to her job.

The country faces a “massive missed opportunity”, she warned, adding “there will be no industry” unless science is used to guide policy rather than bowing to lobbyists’ campaigns.

“We are on the cusp of having an industry that creates good jobs, economic regeneration, and it could be really exciting for environment security and reducing carbon emissions,” she said. “But the value of fracking is something that has been completely crowded out of the debate.”

The process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has proved hugely controversial with mounting protests in South and North Yorkshire last year as energy giants moved forward with plans in the region. Further protests are planned this week with the arrival of the Tour de Yorkshire, as campaigners voice opposition to Ineos’ sponsorship of Team Sky.

In her resignation letter to Energy Secretary Greg Clark, Ms Engel wrote that activists had being “highly successful” in encouraging the Government to curb fracking.

But environmental lobbyists, she claims, represent a small movement rather than the views of local residents and the wider population.

“The overwhelming majority of people don’t care, one way or another,” she told The Yorkshire Post. “They just want to get on with it rather than be blocked on their roads to school or work.”

Ms Engel, arguing that a traffic light system which halts fracking when a tremor with a magnitude of 0.5 is recorded “amounts to a de facto ban”, is calling for thresholds to be reviewed.

Without policy change, she added, industry giants will struggle to proceed in the region.

“If these thresholds aren’t changed, there’s going to be a massive challenge for fracking in Yorkshire,” she said, claiming many in the community believed in the benefits it could bring.

“Even if it doesn’t change, it may still happen in Yorkshire but very slowly. Getting any industry up and running would be very difficult.

“I really hope the Government has another think about this - let the science decide.”

Regional anti-fracking groups, representing campaigners in South and North Yorkshire, said Ms Engel’s comments were “insulting” to communities.

Welcoming her resignation, a spokesman for Frack Free United said this “first intelligent decision Engel has made” as she “flogs a dead horse”.

The Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), in a statement, added: “We’ve worked to develop world-leading regulations based on the advice of scientists and in consultation with industry.

"We are confident these strike the right balance, while ensuring any operations are carried out safely and responsibly.”