Fracking: our future should not be for sale
By Jamie Potter, partner at Bindmans LLP
The Government has not taken Lancashire’s recent decision to refuse two major planning applications relating to fracking well. Local communities seem to keep getting in the way of the promotion of this unconventional method of gas and oil extraction with a questionable safety record and even more questionable impact on the environment and climate change. If you listened to the rhetoric on localism and clean energy, you might have expected the Government would shake their head disappointedly, while acknowledging the importance of local democratic processes.
Instead, in the middle of the summer break, and with no warning or prior consultation, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Communities and Local Government published a new policy statement on the planning process for shale gas and oil. Its purpose would seem to be to force local councils to approve fracking and to empower the Government to take the decision out of their hands when they do not.
Thus, the policy seeks to establish a presumption that there is “a national need” for fracking, a subjective claim at best and irrational at worst, given the science regarding the impact on climate change. Perhaps even more concerningly, it seeks to establish a presumption that fracking is safe and the existing regulatory regime can adequately manage any concerns. This is despite the fact that the existing regime was not designed to deal with such unconventional methods, particularly where such methods have caused serious safety issues in other areas where they have been pursued.
If Councils do not respect these presumptions, or if they take the time properly to consider the issues themselves, then the Policy sets the groundwork for the Government to step-in: to call in applications for central consideration, to consider appeals centrally and even to designate local Councils as underperforming.
If all of this is not enough to convince local authorities that fracking planning applications should be approved, then perhaps the financial incentives will be. The Policy highlights the £1.2million shale support programme to enable local council’s to reach a “timely determination” of applications.
There is also the £5million set aside to “provide independent evidence directly to the public about the robustness of the existing regulatory regime” — quite how evidence commissioned to reach a particular conclusion remains independent is not explained. Then there are the payments promised by fracking companies to local communities, which, according to Government, could be worth £510million for a 10-well site. And if all of that is not enough, the Government is going to establish a sovereign wealth fund from the tax revenue derived from fracking for the benefit of affected communities. The difference between this approach and the significant reduction in investment (and interest) in genuine green energy alternatives could not be more stark.
The environmental future of this country, and this planet, should not be sold to the highest bidder.
Local people should be allowed to decide if they want to have any involvement with this controversial industry. The Government should not be allowed to force through its own agenda by the back door with no warning and no consultation.
That is why Bindmans LLP is representing and supporting the SaFE Alliance in pursuing a judicial review challenge to this policy. SaFE Alliance cannot, however, do this alone, and are crowdfunding to protect themselves from an adverse costs order and to meet basic legal costs. They need your support. If you can, please contribute to the fund here on CrowdJustice.
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