Fracking could go ahead despite opposition from local councils, Liz Truss reveals
Jon Stone
Updated ·3 min read
Liz Truss (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Fracking for gas could go ahead in Lancashire despite opposition the local county council, Liz Truss has suggested.
Speaking on Thursday the prime minister said she would not rule out drilling in the county, where the council is opposed, along with most members of parliament.
Ms Truss's first act in office was to lift the moratorium on the controversial gas extraction process – which has been blamed for causing earthquakes in nearby towns.
She has stressed that "local consent" will be required before any extraction goes ahead, but not said what this will look like or which hurdles would have to be cleared.
"The Energy Secretary will be laying out in more detail exactly what that looks like. But it does mean making sure there is local support for going ahead ... there are various detailed issues to be worked through," she told BBC Radio Lancashire during a tour of BBC local radio stations.
"If there is local consent, we will go ahead. We need to explore where there is local consent, and where there isn't and we're still doing that work. I don't think you should rule out the whole of Lancashire."
In 2016 Lancashire County Council refused planning permission for fracking, but was overruled by then Tory communities secretary Sajid Javid. The government then moved to make fracking "permitted development", taking the decision of whether it should proceed out of the hands of councils.
But under political pressure, in part from Lancashire, in 2019 the government imposed a moratorium on new fracking – which Ms Truss is now seeking to reverse.
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In her interview it was put to Ms Truss was fracking in other countries such as the US took place "in the middle of nowhere" rather than in built-up areas.
Asked whether she knew where Preston New Road, the site of previous drilling was, she replied: "I don't think I've been to that site in the past."
And asked whether she should know where the site was, she changed the subject and said only that local consent would be required.
It was pointed out to the prime minister that most local MPs in the county had spoken out against the gas extraction process, including Conservatives.
Ms Truss made her comments during a tour of local radio stations, where she sought to defend her budget and the economic fallout from its unfunded tax cuts.
Responding, Friends of the Earth energy campaigner, Danny Gross, said: “The council and people of Lancashire have been loud and clear that they don’t want fracking, with a 2017 poll showing two thirds of Lancastrians opposing it.
UK news in pictures
28 September 2022: Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government (PA)
27 September 2022: David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London (AFP/Getty)
26 September 2022: A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London (PA)
25 September 2022: Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem (PA)
24 September 2022: Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (PA)
23 September 2022: A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London (EPA)
22 September 2022: Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London (PA)
21 September 2022: A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent (PA)
20 September 2022: Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted (PA)
19 September 2022: The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St George’s Chapel (AFP/Getty)
18 September 2022: A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queen’s funeral (Reuters)
“Yet the prime minister was unable to rule out fracking in the county or explain what she means by ‘local consent.’
“Fracking causes earthquakes, creates more planet warming emissions and will do practically nothing to bring down energy bills. That’s why it’s deeply unpopular with local communities – and why the industry wants to change the planning rules and bypass local democracy.
“Ministers should pull the plug on fracking and prioritise the real solutions to the energy and climate crises: homegrown renewable energy and a comprehensive nationwide home insulation programme.”
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