Fracking is biggest issue for residents, says MP

LABOUR AND Conservative MPs from Yorkshire have spoken out against Government plans to change the planning process for fracking applications amid claims the proposals would “ride a coach and horses” through limits on the controversial technique already in place in the region.

A Commons debate on shale gas development saw Tories Kevin Hollinrake and Greg Knight and Lee Rowley as well as Labour’s Clive Betts, Kevin Barron and Rachael Maskell criticise proposed changes which would make it easier for developers to carry out underground exploration work for shale gas.

In a rare Commons intervention, Sheffield Hallam MP Jared O’Mara said fracking was the number one issue for residents in his constituency, generating more email correspondence than Brexit or the ongoing Sheffield tree-felling saga.

In plans unveiled this summer, the Government proposed that shale gas exploration work, though not the practice of hydraulic fracturing itself, would no longer require full planning permission as it would be classed as ‘‘permitted development’’.

A consultation was also launched on whether fracking proposals should be considered as part of the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime, a national process that would reduce the involvement of local groups in the planning process.

Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, said he believed fracking could be done in “a way that is sensitive to the countryside” but that careful planning was needed.

Last year, North Yorkshire authorities drew up a plan where any fracking proposals within 500 metres of homes would only be permitted “where it is robustly evidenced that there would be no unacceptable impacts”.

Mr Hollinrake said: “North Yorkshire County Council developed a plan that restricts proliferation and density, but the concern with NSIP and permitted development is that they will ride a coach and horses through those restrictions. We need to restrict the development of shale as it is rolled out.”

Labour’s Rother Valley MP Sir Kevin Barron highlighted the latest government consultation which would force shale gas developers to consult local communities before submitting a planning application. He said: “This is the most inconsistent, confusing thing that I have seen in all my 35 years in Parliament. The Government clearly do not know what is going on with it. “

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