Cuadrilla’s shale gas site at Preston New Road, 19 July 2018. Photo: Danny Vc Llew
A survey out today has found that 80% of Conservative councillors in areas where fracking companies have a licence to explore for shale gas believe that planning applications should be required before drilling.
The research, commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Friends of the Earth, also found that 65% of Conservative councillors believe local authorities should grant final planning consent for shale production projects.
The findings suggest that most Conservative councillors disagree with their government’s proposals to treat non-fracking shale gas exploration as permitted development. This would mean that companies like Ineos, Cuadrilla and IGas would not need to apply for planning permission.
The government is also proposing to class major shale gas production schemes as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. This would bypass local authorities and give the decisions to a government minister or planning inspector.
Consultations on both proposals opened last month and run until 25 October 2018.
Earlier this week, Alex Dale, a Conservative Member of Derbyshire County Council, which refused permission to Ineos for shale gas exploration, criticised the government’s proposals. Writing on the Conservative Home website, he said:
“This is not localism; it’s not Conservatism, and it’s not doing the best by those who have elected us.”
The Local Government Association, which represents local councils, has also opposed the government’s proposals. It said last month:
“Fracking operations should not be allowed to bypass the locally democratic planning system through permitted development or national planning inspectors.”
Daniel Carey-Dawes, Senior Infrastructure Campaigner at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said today:
“It is clear that the government does not have the backing of its own local councillors for its proposals to fast-track fracking. These plans erode the principles of localism – they diminish local communities’ democratic powers and undermine the fundamentals of the local planning system – and councillors recognise this.
“The government lacks the political support to bypass local authorities’ decision-making processes for fracking projects in their area. Unless the significant environmental risks of fracking can be entirely mitigated, exploratory and production plans must be scrutinised to the highest degree – not be made easier. We urge the government to listen to the views of its councillors and drop these plans immediately.”
Rose Dickinson, Friends of the Earth campaigner, said:
“Permitted development was meant to help people carry out small-scale things like putting up a garden shed, not drilling for gas. And this poll shows that Conservative councillors overwhelmingly agree.
“By wresting away from people the modest power they had to have a meaningful say, communities and councillors are being side-lined by the government with these plans.
“More recently, getting fracking permission in Lancashire out in the dying minutes of parliament seems to show that the government are well aware of the level of opposition they are facing.
“It’s clear that affected communities’ wishes are being sacrificed so that fracking companies can more easily drill. Significantly, the fact also remains that fracking is fundamentally incompatible with avoiding climate chaos.”
More than 200,000 people have already signed petitions by CPRE and Friends of the Earth against the proposals.
More than 9,100 people have written a letter to their council leader in a CPRE campaign, while Friends of the Earth is urging people to email their councillor.
But the government proposals have been welcomed by UKOOG, the onshore oil and gas industry body. Its chief executive, Ken Cronin, said the changes would speed-up decisions and reduce uncertainty.
“With five separate regulators ensuring we meet our environmental and operational obligations in everything from well design to traffic management, the government’s plans only seek to ensure that communities, the industry and the nation aren’t left in the dark.”
Survey details
CPRE and Friends of the Earth said the polling was carried by Survation, from 23-26 July 2018. The survey was conducted by phone with a sample size of 507 Conservative councillors in England in areas with PEDL licenses.
Survation is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
Categories: Research
DRILL OR DROP? 
The majority express no opinion that is neither for or against. You can not assume support either way. Of those with an opinion more oppose fracking than support it. And overwhelmingly the majority support renewable energy in the government’s own survey. And in this survey 80% of Conservative councillors oppose the government’s proposls for the changes to planning. Those are the facts.
Nobody is assuming support. The fact remains that only 18% of the population vocalise opposition. FACT.
Opposing changes to the planning process (which includes protection of their remits) shouldn’t be confused with opposing the subject matter of any planning application. Again, a poor attempt at twisting the FACTS to further a minority view.
Clearly you can’t get your facts straight, or are they your “alternative facts”: only 18% vocalise support, whilst 32% oppose fracking, real facts! Talk about forcing your minority view and twisting the facts, lol!
An innocent mistake, which I will happily correct.
When asked, only 32% of the population vocalise opposition to fracking. This is a minority.
The vast majority of those surveyed, the remaining 68%, did not vocalise opposition to fracking.
And neither did that majority vote to support fracking. However, it is clear more people oppose than support and those who are often undecided become vocal in their opposition when they learn about the facts, especially when they can’t ignore it on their doorstep. It is still a minority forcing fracking on the majority who don’t support it. These are the current facts, no matter how much corporate fracking propagandists want to twist the truth.
[Edited by moderator] Decision-making on issues like this is not based on job history. It is not based on technical knowledge. It is based on a global understanding of an issue, encompassing wide- ranging values in life. It encompasses political values [Edited by moderator]
“The overwhelming majority express no opposition to it, I believe is what you wrote. But as I pointed out the overwhelming majority express no support for fracking either. No opinion is just that, sat on the fence. And I would also point out that usually councillors of political parties tend to support the decisions of their parliamentary party, 80% opposition is a damning rejection of their party’s proposals.
[Edited by moderator] I could add my qualifications to my name but will not. I could equally prove I have no investments in fracking companies, but will not. I could show I receive no income or have any contact with same, but will not. If you, and your buddies are so poor at playing the ball, you will play the person, but it is a giveaway.
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[Further comments from two contributors removed by moderator]
If somebody asks the same question again and again and you keep getting the answer wrong, they will eventually stop asking you!