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Lancashire County Council’s legal advice on fracking flawed

news release

Lancashire County Council has today published a written account of the legal advice given to councillors on its Development Control Committee yesterday (Wednesday 24 June) in relation to Cuadrilla’s planning application to frack at Preston New Road.

In response to the published legal advice, Friends of the Earth’s legal advisor, Jake White said:

“The legal advice received by the Lancashire councillors is flawed. It fails to address a number of important considerations including health or noise impacts properly.

“The legal advice sits within a framework of national government policy which privileges fracking over clean wind energy technology. This puts huge pressure on councillors to back fracking against their better judgement.

“Councillors are elected to make decisions in the best interests of their communities. They should not be bounced in to voting for fracking based on rushed and flawed legal advice or by a policy framework skewed in favour of dirty energy.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The published legal advice to Lancashire councillors can be seen here.

2. Planning practice guidance, the national policy framework set out by Government, published online since 2014, has never formally undergone the usual public consultation. (Updates are not subject to public consultation). The guidance is part of the national policy framework which we believe skews decision making at local level in favour of dirty energy. Failure to consult on this is therefore a serious omission.

3. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government published a Ministerial Statement saying that “When determining planning applications for wind energy development involving one or more wind turbines, local planning authorities should only grant planning permission if: following consultation, it can be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by affected local communities have been fully addressed and therefore the proposal has their backing.” This is not the case for fracking.

4. Members on the planning committee are bound to act in a reasonable manner, and should determine planning applications in accordance with the local plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. In this case, both fracking applications are at odds with the local plan, but Preston New Road is still recommended for approval.

If you’re a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust

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