YOUR Election 2017 article is headlined “Fracking among the big issues for rural voters” (D&S Times, May 26).
This prompts me to draw the attention of your readers to Page 23 of the Conservative Party manifesto which states: “We will therefore develop the shale industry in Britain.”
But that is not all. The manifesto commitment continues: “We will legislate to change planning law for shale applications. Non fracking drilling will be treated as permitted development.”
This means that experimental drilling will require no planning permission, and “when necessary, major shale planning decisions will be made the responsibility of the National Planning Regime”.
In other words, if local planning authorities resist fracking applications, the decision will be taken out of their hands if the Conservative Party is returned to power and referred to a body predisposed to grant permission.
The many people in North Yorkshire worried about fracking should be aware of this.
Gerald Hodgson, Spennithorne, Leyburn
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