Council say no to fracking

West Lothian Council has reinforced its opposition to fracking and will continue to support a Scotland-wide moratorium on onshore oil and gas extraction.

But Provost Tom Kerr has cautioned against “always saying no”.

There is a small part of the north- west of the council area that was identified as having potential for the establishment of fracking operations when the UK government issued Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences.

The council’s Development and Transport policy development and scrutiny panel ( PDSP) heard a report from planning officials who detailed that the moratorium remained in place but a review of the policy is under way and a final decision on whether to allow investigatory fracking in future will be made next year.

Planners have identified other options alongside maintaining the ban. These include allowing development of the industry under the normal planning regulations or allowing a pilot project which would assess the potential benefits of the process but with a set timescale of approximately 10 years.

Provost councillor Tom Kerr suggested fracking needed further investigation: “No doubt I will be in a minority of one but I think it’s a very short-sighted policy. Nothing would ever happen if you do nothing,” he said.

Councillor Robert de Bold said: “I am pleased and reassured that West Lothian is continuing to support the Scottish Government’s position.”