What the Government is planning to do is nothing short of scandalous. The normal checks and protection afforded by our system has been removed for fracking. The hurdles and public consultation afforded to those planning wind farms or solar are removed for unconventional gas, which includes fracking. We are all in DANGER. We should ALL be alarmed.
Local planning approval has been reduced from normal council committee control to just representatives. If those representatives do not have statutory objections from their councils backing them up, they are unable to object. It is local approval by default.
To protect their populations, all councils that will be affected by the next tranch of PEDL (fracking licences) due in Feb. 2014 should put statutory control back with them, so local people CAN be consulted again.
What is happening today in Cirencester, in the Cotswolds, is showing people what protection they thought they had, doesn’t exist anymore. As mentioned earlier, this is nothing short of scandalous, for such an important subject that affects the health, lives and homes of all potentially affected, which will be almost 2/3rds of the land mass of England in Feb. 2013.
What is also starting to come to light is the Government plans for the process of coal gasification, which some say is even more harmful potentially to health than fracking.
These processes should not be taken away from public consultation, because they are too important for our future. An informed decision has to be made, not one of blind faith, especially not in Government that appears to be implementing policy by stealth.
‘Fracking–UNSAFE’ is officially launched today , 27th Sept., 2013, in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, by calling for local control to be restored on decisions that will affect us so dramatically, such as the various forms of unconventional gas production, which includes fracking.
