July 2018
Planning on shale gas development.
Shale development has the potential to deliver substantial economic benefits to our economy and for local communities where supplies are located. I am glad that the Government remains committed to protecting the environment and ensuring that shale exploration happens safely. I welcome the announcement of a range of measures to help speed up these decisions.
A consultation will be launched this summer on the principle of whether the early stages of shale exploration should be treated as permitted development, and in particular on the circumstances in which this might be appropriate. This would allow early exploratory work to proceed without requiring planning applications, although planning applications would still be required for fracking.
Other measures include strengthening community engagement by consulting on the potential to make pre-application consultations a statutory requirement, and launching a new £1.6 million shale support fund over the next two years to build capacity in local authorities dealing with shale applications.
A new Planning Brokerage Service for shale applications will also be created, to provide guidance to developers and local authorities on the planning process in order to speed up decision making. Furthermore, to simplify the complex UK regulatory regime for shale gas, a new Shale Environmental Regulator will also be set up, to act as a single coherent face for the public, mineral planning authorities, and industry.
Turning to national parks, including our own Peak District National Park, I believe there are plenty of legal safeguards, through the Infrastructure Act 2015 and other measures that will protect some of the country's most beautiful areas from fracking. As a result of these regulations, fracking cannot take place at depths of less than 1,200 metres under our most sensitive areas. The Government has also banned fracking wells and drills from being placed within National Parks, in order to safeguard some of our most precious landscapes. I am confident that these measures will protect our most valuable areas for the future.