Fracking
Extracting shale gas.
Image: © Kirby Misperton protection camp
Our view
We’re concerned about fracking. It’s being used to undermine local democracy and its widespread use in England would industrialise our countryside.
We believe that fracking should stop unless it can be clearly demonstrated that it would:
- not lead to unacceptable cumulative harm, whether for particular landscapes or on the English countryside as a whole
- be carefully controlled by effective systems of regulation and democratic planning, which are adequately resourced at both local and national levels
- help secure the radical reductions in carbon emissions required to comply with planning policy and meet legally binding climate change targets
The latest:
Fracking to be fast-tracked
In May 2018, ministers announced that they wanted to speed up the application process for fracking and allow proposals for exploratory drilling to skip through the normal stages of the planning system. Find out what our issues are.
The issues:
Why we need to stop fracking
Find out CPRE’s primary concerns with fracking, from the industrialisation of our landscapes, to the recent Government announcement that threatens to undermine local democracy and our planning system.
The campaign:
#FrackturedCommunities
CPRE has always believed that the concerns of local people must be at the heart of the planning system, but these proposals completely undermine this principle. So, we've launched a campaign to restore local democracy when it comes to decisions on fracking.
Blog:
Fracking: when 'no' is not enough
Despite its industrial nature, fracking is a real rural issue – some of our most characterful landscapes are on the frontline, so it’s no surprise that countryside communities are the ones fighting back the hardest.
