ANTI FRACKERS ARE DEFENDING DEMOCRACY - Will you join us?

The British Government is currently trying to push through two new pieces of legislation and both of them relate to fracking. However, in a subtle way they also intend to undermine local democracy and freedom of choice.

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-05-17/HCWS690

Until now, local people have had the opportunity to object to planning applications however now the Government want to "fast track" fracking by avoiding those tried and tested procedures.
Firstly. they want to include fracking in the "Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects" scheme, meaning that the Government would not require permission from local people or their local authorities.
Not only that but our Government would be in a position to compulsorily purchase land for fracking.

Secondly, the British Government would prefer to treat the exploratory phase, ie., test drilling, as "permitted development". This means that drilling for oil or gas would be as acceptable as erecting a garden shed!

Drilling rig (to say nothing of the compressor stations, pipelines and petro-chemical plants)

Garden shed (with usual associated paraphenalia)

Had this legislation been in place in the past, the public would not have been alerted, consulted or given the opportunity to object to any of the drilling activities that have seen dramatic and passionate protests from Balcombe, Sussex in the summer of 2013 to Little Plumpton, Lancashire at the present time.

The legislation that is currently proposed by the British Government does not just cut the red tape for the oil and gas companies but it, more worryingly, destroys the safeguards of the British democratic system and robs the people of their traditional opportunity to have a say in their local community affairs.

Given that 64% of England has already been licensed for drilling we can surmise that widespread industrialisation associated with fracking will be forced upon us by our government without respect or regard for our right to live in a safe environment and to the detriment of all lives, including livestock and wildlife.

You may be alarmed to hear this news and are wondering what we can do in the circumstances.

The British Government is running two consultations, open to public comment and we citizens can take part and encourage our council representatives to do the same.
Both consultations close at 11:45pm on 25 October 2018, here are the necessary links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/inclusion-of-shale-gas-production-projects-in-the-nationally-significant-infrastructure-project-nsip-regime

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/permitted-development-for-shale-gas-exploration

Some guidelines to assist your responses can be found here:
https://www.frackfreeunited.co.uk/permitted-development-and-nsip/qc-briefing-on-pd-nsip/

Further resources and daily updates about the resistance to fracking in the UK can be found by joining the facebook group ANTI FRACKING INTERNATIONAL - https://www.facebook.com/groups/543602242428219/

In addition to news articles and opinions you can find plentiful studies and information stored on our FILES. Useful films and videos are tucked neatly into comments on the cover pic, just click the image to access them.

Please join us to defend the UK democratic system against the potential for massive industrialisation of our green and pleasant land - fracking is only one small part of the process, which begins with drilling and ends with the production of environmentally hazardous waste materials such as discarded plastics and methane emissions.