Objectors to a controversial application to frack for shale gas in North Yorkshire have told councillors they do not want the county to become known as the “fracking capital of the UK”.
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North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) has approved the application from Third Energy, a company backed by Barclays private equity, for an eight-week programme at an existing well site near Kirby Misperton, a village in the Ryedale area of the county.
No fracking has taken place in the United Kingdom since 2011, when tests on the Fylde coast were found to have been the probable cause of minor earthquakes in the area.
Locals had expressed fears that the fracking could damage the area’s tourist industry, contaminate water supplies, hurt wildlife, cause earthquakes and contribute to global climate change.
Protesters have also raised concerns that passing the application will open the floodgates to hundreds of other wells.
Mr Flinton said: “This has been a very hard decision for the council to make and we know it is a hard decision for the people of this county”.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is eager to replicate the American fracking boom in hopes of reducing Britain’s reliance on imported gas and to pocket potentially enormous economic benefits.
Third Energy submitted plans to extract shale gas at a site near Kirby Misperton in Ryedale in 2015, and environmental permits had already been granted by the Environmental Agency.
Since 2011, two high-profile fracking applications have been blocked by councillors, and are now being appealed.
“Fracking is not what we need, it’s incredibly risky for people’s health, for the environment and, of course, in causing more climate change”.
Councillors were told there had been 4,375 objections and 36 letters of support for the application, and that police have launched an investigation into “hacked” representations sent to the council.
Is a broader debate needed over United Kingdom shale and fracking? But the crowd outside County Hall in Northallerton shouted, “We say no”, and then sang civil rights song “We shall overcome”.
THE decision to allow fracking to take place in Ryedale, on a site at the very edge of the North York Moors no less, could not fail to be contentious.
Industry body UK Onshore Oil and Gas said it was an important first step for frackers, an industry which attracts fierce local opposition whenever a site is chosen for fracking but which has strong government backing.
He said: “This application will be and can only be considered on its merits”.
But Independent councillor John Blackie said ahead of the vote: “I believe, if it goes ahead, it imperils both the tourism industry and the reputation of the local agricultural economy for producing food the highest quality”.
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He said: “People said they’d come to live in a attractive area and they want it to stay that way but fracking this one well is not going to affect that handsome area”.
