Yorkshire residents near potential fracking site 'dismayed' at decision to overturn ban

Residents living in Woodsetts, Rotherham, raised £10,000 to fund a lawyer to contest an application by Ineos to carry out test core drilling on land just outside the village in 2019.

Woodsetts Against Fracking have long opposed plans for exploratory drilling near their village – culminating in an appeal being thrown out by former communities secretary Michael Gove in June.

In 2018, Rotherham Council’s planning board refused permission to drill a test hole, and a public inquiry was held in 2019 after an appeal to the national planning inspectorate.

However, the fight may not be over for the residents of Woodsetts after new Prime Minister Liz Truss announced she will throw out the 2019 ban on fracking, in a bid to solve the energy crisis.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Truss unveiled a package of measures to support residents who are facing crippling energy bills this winter.

Energy bills will capped at £2,500 a year for the next two years, and the deployment of renewable energy sources such as hydrogen and solar power will be “sped up”.

She also told the Commons today that the government will “end the moratorium on extracting our huge reserves of shale, which could get gas flowing as soon as six months, where there is local support for it.”

However, Rotherham councillors representing the Anston and Woodsetts ward criticised the decision.

Lib Dem Councillor Drew Tarmey, who represents the Anston and Woodsetts ward said: “The threat of fracking never fully went away under the Conservative government. Local residents don’t agree with the small group of Conservative party members who selected Liz Truss.

“Residents are also incredibly worried about energy bills, and it’s a shame that it seems that the government has rejected the Liberal Democrat proposals in terms of funding a freeze on energy bills from from windfall tax on companies that are making huge profits.

“Instead, what they’ll be proposing to do is just to run up a huge amount of debt that everybody’s going to have to pay back on their energy bills over the next 10 years or so.”