Local councils heading for fracking showdown with government

Jan. 4, 2019

Greater Manchester tells firms they are not welcome as discontent spreads

Ministers are facing a fresh confrontation with local councils over their controversial plans to expand fracking, after one of the biggest combined authorities in the country set out plans to ban the practice.

Greater Manchester’s decision to effectively stop companies from extracting underground shale gas in the region was greeted as a critical moment in the fight against fracking, which critics say is dangerous and unproven.

The 10 local authorities that make up Greater Manchester will put planning measures in place to create a “presumption” against fracking for shale gas, said the area’s mayor, Andy Burnham, as part of its effort to become carbon neutral by 2038.

The announcement, which comes as London finalises a similar scheme, will amplify discontent among local councils – including Tory-controlled authorities – that experts said could lead to a showdown with central government, and potentially kill off ministers’ plans.

Concerns about the drilling technique were again raised in the run-up to Christmas when the energy company Cuadrilla was forced to pause operations near Blackpool three times after drilling caused small earthquakes that breached legal limits.

Several other authorities – including Leeds, Wakefield, Hull and York – have expressed opposition to fracking, and experts believe the stance taken by Manchester and London will embolden others.

Many Conservatives are also opposed. In Westminster, almost two dozen Tory MPs are reported to be against fracking and willing to “destroy the government’s majority” if it tries to weaken planning laws.

Several Tory-run local authorities – including Derby, Dorset and Nottinghamshire – are fiercely opposed to the change in planning proposals, which would mean companies could drill test sites without applying for planning permission.

Tom Fyans from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said Greater Manchester’s policy was a significant moment. “The decision is symbolic of the growing opposition to the government’s plans to fast-track fracking, which look to override local democracy by disregarding the wishes of local communities and deny those very people the opportunity to have their say on decisions that will ultimately affect them and the health of their countryside,” he said.

Burnham said: “It’s about embracing the future, not the past. Cities like Greater Manchester need to join the group of leading cities on the world stage that are driving fast towards carbon neutrality.

“That is a big challenge and it must be embraced wholeheartedly, and it means a full commitment to renewable energy and not half measures, and not clinging on to processes that hark back to a past.”

In London, the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who last month declared a “climate emergency”, has said he will throw out all fracking proposals. His draft London plan, which will be ratified later this year, introduces an effective ban on fracking across the capital.

Tony Bosworth of Friends of the Earth said: “It’s not surprising that they are opposed by local councils around the country, including many controlled by the Conservatives. In order to deal with the climate crisis, we need to be moving away from fossil fuels, not making it easier for companies to dig up more.”

The scale of opposition within the Conservative party was underlined last year when a survey commissioned by CPRE and Friends of the Earth found 80% of Conservative councillors in areas where fracking companies have a licence believe planning applications should be required before drilling.

About 2.6 million people live in Greater Manchester, large parts of which are within “shale-prospective areas” identified by the British Geological Survey and the Oil and Gas Authority. Energy companies have been granted licences to pursue oil and gas exploration in the west and north of the region, with iGas the first to drill a combined coalbed methane and shale gas exploration well in Barton Moss in Salford in 2013-14.

The combined authority’s proposals on fracking are part of a wider, more ambitious environmental plan. Manchester city council, one of its10 local authorities, has already agreed to the goal after accepting advice from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The wider region is expected to follow suit soon.

Cities such as Berlin, Boston, Copenhagen, London and New York have joined the the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80%-100% by 2050 or sooner.

Burnham said the decision to move against fracking came about after council leaders looked at what happened in Lancashire, where fracking started in October at Preston New Road near Blackpool against the will of the local authority after a government intervention. The earthquakes caused by the Cuadrilla activity were a serious concern, Burnham said.

“For the legal limits to be breached so regularly is a worry, isn’t it? It’s hard to know what damage is being done and the effect that is having on groundwater and all of those other issues that emerge,” he said.

“It’s even more worrying in Greater Manchester, which is a much more urban place, where there is more contaminated land, more mine shafts. This is an industry which hasn’t proven its case. In fact, the opposite.”

Burnham accepted that Greater Manchester did not have the power to implement a ban on fracking. “That’s a reflection of government policy and not our policy. We would if we could,” he said. “We are doing what we can within the legal structures that we have got at our disposal.”

The policy will be announced on Monday as part of the Greater Manchester spatial framework, which sets out a strategic plan for the city region until 2037. Local leaders have agreed to include concerns about the impacts arising from the exploitation of new sources of hydrocarbons. They believe the government’s support for fracking means there is less of an imperative to invest in new zero-carbon technologies.

In September 2018, the petrochemical company Ineos lost a legal challenge against the Scottish government’s position on fracking, when Scotland’s highest court ruled politicians had not exceeded their powers by imposing a moratorium against fracking for oil and gas.

Burnham said he was hopeful that energy companies would respect Greater Manchester’s wishes and not apply to frack in the region. “There has never been a legal case involving a spatial framework of this kind. We would be empowering our own communities to take on a government policy which at times seems to impose its will on local communities,” he said.

Energy industry analysts have begun to question the economic feasibility of fracking in the UK. Since 2013, gas prices have fallen sharply and there is no shortage of supply in Europe or across the world. German import prices – the standard European benchmark – are half their 2013 level. It is also not yet proven that the substantial shale resources present under the the north of England and elsewhere in the UK can be recovered at a commercially viable volume, as in the US.

The government’s determination to press ahead with fracking in light of mounting evidence of climate breakdown has also been criticised by leading scientists. Jim Hansen, known as the father of climate change awareness, accused ministers of ignoring scientific fact.

However, the government had defended the practice. A Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesman said: “Shale gas has the potential to be a new domestic energy source, enhancing our energy security and delivering economic benefits, including the creation of well-paid, quality jobs.”

[Top photo: A protest against fracking exploration in Barton Moss, Salford, in 2014. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]