Campaign to stop fast-track fracking decisions

According to the Government announcement on 13 August, councils will be given a deadline of 16 weeks to approve or reject applications; after then, ministers will have the power to call them in and make a decision themselves. The Government will also consider calling in any application for shale gas and oil exploration, and will consider recovering appeals. In publishing the announcement, Communities Secretary Greg Clark said that “no one benefits from uncertainty caused by delays in planning decisions”.

We are highly concerned that this removes decision-making from local communities and is out of step with plans for new energy infrastructure.

Nick Clack, national CPRE senior energy campaigner said: “Ministers talk of a national need for shale gas and oil, but have yet to make a convincing case to communities. These changes, which could see Government taking more decisions away from local people, won’t help to persuade them and could fuel division and disempowerment. Enabling broad local conversations about what appropriate local energy projects might be, taking full account of local environmental impacts, would be the most positive way forward.

“It is very concerning that it looks like Government has chosen a different path for fracking than for onshore wind planning, where recent welcome changes have sought to put local communities at the heart of decisions. Why is greater localism appropriate for some new energy projects, but not for others? It sounds disingenuous for the Government to claim that local communities will remain fully involved in shale gas and oil planning decisions if these decisions are ultimately taken by ministers.

“Taken with the weak statutory safeguards proposed for protected areas, the fracking announcement suggests a wish to create a fracking regime that works more effectively for developers than for local people and the environment.”

CPRE Kent is now backing a campaign to look at taking the Government decision to judicial review. This case will be the first to challenge the Government’s pro fracking stance, approach to climate change and local democracy. We are seeking to get the Government to change course and to implement adequate climate change policies and to give local communities a say in what energy choices they would prefer.

For more information click here.

September 9th 2015.

• A number of important documents have yet to emerge. For example, a rigorous transport plan and a finalised air-quality assessment. The latter is critical given that allocations at Teynham will feed extra traffic into AQMAs.
• There seems to be no coherent plan for infrastructure delivery – a key component of the plan given the allocations being proposed near the already crowded Junction 7.
• There seems to have been little or no cooperation with neighbouring boroughs or even parish councils within Swale itself.

The removal of a second consultation might have been understandable if this final version of the plan were similar to that being talked about at the beginning of the consultation process. It is, however, radically different in the following ways:

• There has been a major shift in the balance of housing allocations, away from the west of the borough over to the east, especially around the historic town of Faversham. This is a move that raises many concerns.
• A new large allocation, with accompanying A2 bypass, has appeared around Teynham and Lynsted, to which we are objecting.
• Housing allocations in the AONB around Neames Forstal that were judged “unsuitable” by the council’s own officers have now appeared as part of the housing numbers.
• Most of the housing allocations being proposed are on greenfield sites, many of them on Grade 1 agricultural land – a point to which we are strongly objecting.

Concerns about the rush to submit the plan

The haste with which the plan is being prepared is especially worrying given the concentration of housing in Faversham. If the town is to take a large amount of new housing, it is imperative that the policies concerning the area are carefully worked out to preserve, as far as possible, the unique nature of the town. The rush to submit the plan is likely to prove detrimental.

As Swale does not have a five-year land housing supply, it is open to speculative development proposals, many of which would run counter to the ideas contained in the current plan. Some are already appearing. This is a common situation, and one that, doubtless, is a reason behind Swale’s haste.

Our overriding fear, however, is that this emphasis on haste is ultimately going to prove counterproductive. This is because it is our view that the plan, in its current form, is unlikely to pass independent examination. We are urging Swale to listen to and act upon the comments being made about the plan and to return the plan to the council with appropriate modifications before submitting it to the Secretary of State.

Essentially, this means treating the current consultation not as the final one but as the ‘lost’ second consultation.

The consultation ends on Friday 30 April and we strongly urge residents to make their opinions known if they have not already done so.

Further information

• Read more on the Swale Local Plan
• Read CPRE Kent’s detailed comments on the plan
• View the council’s consultation document