North Yorkshire County Councillors approved a shale gas fracking application from Third Energy yesterday – marking the first time that a fracking bid has been greenlighted in the United Kingdom since 2011.
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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.
“Today seven out of 11 North Yorkshire county councillors voted to approve this fracking application in Ryedale, ignoring the objection of Ryedale District Council itself, as well as thousands of local residents and businesses”.
The application was passed despite the presence of hundreds of protestors, who gathered outside County Hall in Northallerton throughout the hearing which began on Friday.
They booed and jeered as the result was announced and shouted “shame on you” and “you will be held accountable”.
“Third Energy has been drilling wells and producing gas safely and discreetly from this site in Kirby Misperton for over 20 years, and we will continue to maintain the same standards in the future”, he added.
A number of objections from people opposed to the plans were heard over the course of two days prior to the decision.
Greenpeace’s head of energy campaigns Daisy Sands added: “Given the pro fracking bias from central Government, there was an air of inevitability about this bitterly disappointing decision”.
Third Energy chief executive Rasik Valand said: “This approval, is not as a victory, but is a huge responsibility”.
Baroness McIntosh, the former Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, argued the development of the fracking industry would see the “green fields and pleasant land of England” transformed into “an industrial site on a massive scale”.
But Third Energy said it had a strong record in the area and would be using a well two miles deep that was drilled in 2013 and that had already been in operation.
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. We have conditions from both the planning authority and the Environment Agency to discharge.
An independent councillor speaking in the meeting said he had never known a planning office so swayed by an applicant.
Energy minister Andrea Leadsom said: “This decision has been made by the local council”.
Egdon Resources is primarily focused on onshore exploration and production in the United Kingdom, now holding interests in 36 licences in the United Kingdom and across the Channel in France, including in iGas’s Springs Road, Nottingham project, plus is awaiting the award of nine further licences which include “unconventional”, or fracking, opportunities.
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Principal of these is the need for coordination and policing of appropriate regulation to ensure that the environmental and social impacts of fracking in the United Kingdom are understood and kept to a minimum.
