Dorset reaction to the fracking ban being lifted

It comes as the government announced applications for new shale gas drilling can now be made, after business and energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg confirmed the moratorium in place since November 2019 had been lifted.

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “I look forward to him and his colleagues explaining his charter for earthquakes to the people of Lancashire, Yorkshire, the Midlands, Sussex, Dorset, and indeed Somerset will be part of his dangerous experiment.

“Let me tell the party opposite: we will hang this broken promise around their necks in every part of the country between now and the next general election.”

Previously, the Daily Echo has reported three companies being granted licences to explore a total of nine blocks of land.

Licences previously issued by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) do not give any direct permission for operations to begin, rather grants the licensee exclusivity over an area of land to explore and extract.

In Dorset, three companies were granted licences to explore a total of nine blocks of land.

These covered areas including Piddlehinton, Puddletown, Bere Regis, Wareham Forest, Poole, Bournemouth part of the Lulworth Ranges, Corfe Castle and Swanage.

South Western Energy was granted a licence for five blocks of land stretching from Puddletown to Bournemouth and taking in the Lulworth Ranges for shale oil or gas exploration, which typically requires fracking.

Read more: Dorset to be opened up for oil and gas exploration as new licences granted

Why is the government in favour of fracking?

MP for Poole Sir Robert Syms is in favour of the ban on fracking being lifted. He said: “I think it's going to be good for the nation because there's about 200 billion pounds worth of gas under our feet, there's a shortage of gas at the moment and any kind of increase in supply in the medium term is likely to reduce the price.

“A fracking site the size of two football pitches has somewhere in the region of between 40 and 60 wells on it and can generate a lot of gas.

“And I think the problem we've had in the past is they've set too low tolerance for fracking, which means it's very difficult to drill at those tolerances.

“I think with some modest changes to the tolerances and the fact that we have much higher standards for fracking here than the United States, then I think we can be pretty sure that it's both environmentally sensible but also an extremely good thing to do because it's going to generate a lot of wealth.”

When asked what the likelihood of fracking taking place in Dorset is, Mr Syms said: “I don't know whether there would ever be fracking in Poole, but certainly there might be in Dorset.

“The key point is that if an application went in for Dorset and if Dorset was going to get hundreds of millions of pounds worth of revenue to pay for schools and leisure centres and roads and all the other things, then I think it would be worth considering. The government are looking at whether there will be a reward for areas which have fracking.”

Why are climate campaigners against fracking?

Joanna Bury, solicitor and coordinator of Extinction Rebellion Wimborne described the government’s decision as ‘absolute insanity.’

She said: “Fracking is wrong for so many reasons. It damages habitats and landscape, pollutes water sources, causes seismic activity.

“In the UK’s particular circumstances, our “crisis of crises” ie the energy, cost of living and climate crises, the Government really couldn’t do anything worse.

“Shale gas won’t help our energy or cost of living crisis. Fracking is a long term project, especially as it’s been dormant for years. Fracking sites would need to be developed.

“Kwasi Kwarteng himself has said we wouldn’t see any energy from fracking for at least a decade. And any shale gas that results will be sold by the producers on the international energy market to the highest bidder. Individual consumers in the UK will not benefit. “Pursuing fracking projects when we should be transitioning away from fossil fuels is absolute insanity. Fossil fuels are funding Putin’s war, and feeding the cost of living and climate crises. We should be concentrating on developing renewable sources of energy.

“There are 649 planning permissions for onshore wind farms and solar farms still awaiting the go ahead from the government.

“And we should be concentrating on energy efficiency. The government should be insulating Britain’s homes to save thousands of lives and to prevent economic and social collapse.

“Families will face long term economic distress unless the Government gets to grip with the need to end reliance on fossil fuels. Transferring our reliance to renewables will ensure national security, allow families to flourish, and will be a positive step towards combating the climate crisis.”