News / Anti-fracking
Anti-fracking rally on College Green
Campaigners and councillors are protesting against what they call an “unacceptable abuse of the planning system to undermine opposition to fracking”.
Members of Bristol Green Party group joined activists on College Green on Tuesday, where they signed a letter urging the Government to back down from its plan to make fracking developments harder to challenge under planning law.
There are currently two national consultations on changes to fracking, which is the process of drilling down into the earth and injecting a high-pressure liquid into rock to release gas inside.
The Government’s proposal is to classify the practice as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, which would mean developments only need permission from a government-appointed planning inspector to go ahead, regardless of the views of local communities.
Meanwhile, fracking exploration would be allowed under ‘permitted development’, with no planning process at all.
Green councillors and campaigners gather on College Green
“It’s outrageous the Government is trying to circumvent planning law so they can push fracking expansion on communities, giving fracking exploration the same level of planning control as a garden shed and taking the decision over fracking projects away from locally-accountable, elected representatives,” says Eleanor Combley, Bristol Green group leader.
“We know that people in Britain do not want fracking. We know that fracking can be a source of air and water pollution, harmful to human health. We know that to have a chance of reducing the impact of climate change we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
“Yet in the face of all this evidence, our national government is hell bent on fracking anyway, and removing any safeguards which might allow people to protect their local area.
“Instead of finding ways to push fracking on communities that don’t want it, the Government should support renewable energy – in the UK we have the expertise and potential for a green energy revolution which could provide up to a million jobs and clean, cheap energy for the whole country.”
They signed a letter urging the Government to reconsider plans
Anti-fracking campaigners are calling on the Government to invest more in renewable energy, not fracking expansion
The letter states that the Government’s proposals amount to “an unacceptable abuse of the planning process”, designed simply to over-ride local opposition to fracking.
The letter also notes that the House of Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee urged the government to drop these plans in its June report, dismissing the proposals as ‘hugely harmful’.
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