CPRE, the countryside charity, today (23 October) welcomes a new report from the National Audit Office which shines a critical light on the government’s policy to develop a shale gas industry in England.

The report supports CPRE’s warnings that fracking has no demonstrable benefit to local people, communities and the country at large.

Daniel Carey-Dawes, Head of Rural Economy and Communities, said:

‘The NAO report casts a critical eye over the government’s commitment to developing a shale gas industry in England. For several years now, local communities have been bamboozled by shale salespersons, promising economic boom, lower energy bills, all at no cost to the environment. The NAO report highlights the lack of evidence to support any of these claims, and the lack of clarity on who will meet the costs of decommissioning wells when the fracking circus leaves town.

The report also highlights the lack of progress on carbon capture and storage, which is essential for fracking to be compliant with reaching net-zero. In this state of climate emergency, we should be doing everything we can to cut our emissions as quickly as possible, and not, relying on a future non-existent technology.
Findings in this report chime with CPRE’s warnings that fracking could lead to the industrialisation of the countryside and contribute to the climate crisis. If even this impartial summary of the facts as presented in this NAO report can be so damning then it’s hard to see how the government can justify ploughing ahead with this pro-fracking agenda. It is time to bring an end to this nonsense and halt fracking.’