by Cara Bevington Oct 5th, 2015
A dirty energy company wants to frack for shale gas in Ryedale. North Yorkshire Council will be making a decision on this in November – but first they want to know what local people think.
This is our chance to stop fracking in our beautiful Yorkshire. If enough of us email in and object, councillors could block this application and send a clear signal to other companies that fracking is not wanted in Yorkshire, or anywhere else.
You can email the council directly from this page on the 38 Degrees website: https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/fracking-yorkshire-consultation
And if you want more details about the application, or ideas about what to include in your objection, take a look below.
It’s best to personalise your message as much as possible, so please use the any of the messages below that most resonate with you. If you want to read about the application and suggested objection points in greater detail, please visit Frack Free Ryedale’s website, they have loads of useful resources: http://frackfreeryedale.org/km8/
You could start by sharing your personal connection to the area – do you live in Yorkshire or visit on holidays? If you live near the proposed fracking site in Kirby Misperton, please state what it is about the application that you are concerned about, e.g. the impact on your village, the impact on local roads and landscape, the potential dangers to water supplies.
If you live elsewhere, you could mention the wider effects that fracking would have on the region, particularly on its reputation as a top tourist destination with a beautiful countryside.
Chemical-filled water is used in the fracking process, if things go wrong contaminated water could seep into local becks and rivers, harming fish and other aquatic species. Pollutants could also enter the local water network via the site drainage system if there was a spill on the site.
The planning application states that there will be at least 910 Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) movements and 504 Light Goods Vehicle (LGV) movements in the first eight weeks, making 1,414 traffic movements in total. This traffic will travel through Kirby Misperton village and along country roads, resulting in increased noise and air pollution, and an increased risk of traffic accidents.
The application does not create a single new job for local people, but if fracking is allowed in Ryedale, it could threaten the jobs of thousands of people in the key local industries of tourism and agriculture. This is confirmed in the government’s own Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts Paper, which states: “[fracking] may reduce the number of visitors and tourists in the rural area, with an associated reduction in spend in the local tourism economy.”
Fracking at this site could have a bad affect on the local wildlife living in the area like deer, newts, badgers, barn owls and bats. Depending on the time of year the fracking starts, this could also cause problems with breeding and hibernation.
Allowing fracking at Kirby Misperton, Ryedale could make it harder for the Council to reject future fracking applications as a precedent will have been set. This could open the door to this damaging and destructive industry across other parts of Yorkshire.
Fracking is bad for the climate. Fracking is a way to use more gas and oil – both of which pollute the environment, and will run out sometime anyway. The government should be urgently focusing on renewable energy.