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Kim Matthews

It's been a while since we posted anything about fracking so I thought you might appreciate an update on where things are at across the UK.

It's a mixed bag, to be honest, with some countries doing better than others - as you will see.

Scotland

There is good news from Scotland, as a moratorium has been in place on fracking for shale gas and coal bed methane extraction for over a year, and this was extended to cover underground coal gasification in October. Two separate review processes are currently taking place and a public consultation is expected in late 2016. We are engaging both as RSPB Scotland and as part of Scottish Environment LINK, in particular to ensure biodiversity issues are covered in the review process, as well as raising concerns about climate impacts.

Wales

There is an interesting position in Wales in that they have a sort-of moratorium. Welsh Assembly Members have said they will call-in any fracking applications that would normally be considered by local planning authorities. This means that the Welsh Government would decide on whether permission will be given. Not surprisingly the fracking companies are pushing back on this. Larger applications might well be decided at the UK level, and there are proposals to change the devolution settlement with regards to such development types.

Northern Ireland

In autumn last year the Northern Ireland Environment Minister announced that there would be a presumption against any fracking proposals, unless companies could show sufficient, strong evidence of its safety on all environmental impacts. This is great news but we will continue to keep an eye on the situation.

England

There is a very different picture in England where we have been fighting, with your help, to save protected sites from being included in areas licensed for fracking. 

The Energy Minister, Andrea Leadsom MP, recently told a Parliamentary group that it is the Government’s intention to ban fracking at the surface in all protected areas. This means that special places such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including many RSPB reserves, will be put beyond harm’s reach.

The RSPB has long campaigned for special areas for wildlife and water to be no-go zones for fracking. Such a measure would protect rare and amazing wildlife like bitterns, water voles and kingfishers. This on-the-record statement from Government is very welcome. It suggests that when Government publishes its response to a consultation that was run in December last year, it will contain these protections.  While these measures do not go as far as RSPB has been calling for, they are a sensible step in the right direction.

We consider that further changes are required in order to make sure that the UK’s regulatory framework for fracking is fit for purpose. These recommendations can be found here. But right now, we’d like to say thank you to all the campaigners who supported our online action asking Government to ban fracking in these special places.

Thanks to your efforts, it looks like we will get the decision we have been hoping for. We'll let you know as soon as we hear the Government's response.

If you haven’t yet taken the action there is still time to do so, in order to make sure that Government’s final decision is the right one. You can find it here.