Council chiefs say fracking decisions should be local

COUNCIL chiefs will tell the government that future decisions about fracking should be taken locally.

The government is consulting on a proposal to reclassify fracking as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, taking it out of the hands of local planning authorities such as Hyndburn council.

It is also considering whether to remove the need for planning permission for the exploratory phase of the process, instead categorising it as ‘permitted development’.

At Lancashire’s full county council meeting, members discussed a response to a consultation proposing ministers have the first and final say.

Introducing a motion to object to the plan, Green Coun Gina Dowding, told councillors: “What we would see is the mass industrialisation of our countryside; our rural communities in Lancashire being decimated without even being able to comment on that process.”

Independent Coun Paul Hayhurst said: “I’m convinced people in Lancashire know better what is right for Lancashire than people in Whitehall.”

Conservative Coun Barry Yates proposed an amendment, which Coun Dowding accepted, stating the county council’s commitment to localism and saying fracking applications ‘should be determined by local planning authorities in accordance with planning law and guidance’.

Labour’s Coun Steve Holgate told members the government’s proposal was about more than fracking.

He said: “This is about local people having their local representatives oversee a process [to decide] whether a particular development in the countryside is appropriate.”

The amended motion was passed with unanimous support.