Residents near potential fracking site in Rotherham “dismayed” at decision to overturn ban on shale gas drilling

Residents living in Woodsetts, Rotherham, have long opposed plans for exploratory drilling near their village – culminating in an appeal being thrown out by former communities secretary Michael Gove in June.

In 2018, Rotherham council’s planning board refused permission to drill a test hole, and a public inquiry was held in 2019 after an appeal to the national planning inspectorate.

However, the fight may not be over for the residents of Woodsetts after Liz Truss today announced she will throw out the 2019 ban on fracking, in a bid to solve the energy crisis.

Speaking in the House of Commons Today, Ms Truss unveiled a package of measures to support residents who are facing crippling energy bills this winter.

Energy bills will be capped at £2,500 a year for the next two years, and the deployment of renewable energy sources will be “sped up”.

She also told the Commons today that the government will “end the moratorium on extracting our huge reserves of shale, which could get gas flowing as soon as six months, where there is local support for it”

However, a councillor representing the Anston and Woodsetts ward criticised the decision.

Lib Dem Councillor Drew Tarmey told the local democracy reporting scheme following the announcement: “The threat of fracking never fully went away under the Conservative government..

“[Residents] are rightly dismayed at the spectre of fracking resurfacing in our area thanks to a Conservative government that has, for years, neglected to take the obvious steps needed to secure a long-term energy supply for the nation.”

“Residents are also incredibly worried about energy bills, and it’s a shame that it seems that the government has rejected the Liberal Democrat proposals in terms of funding a freeze on energy bills from from windfall tax on companies that are making huge profits.

“Instead, what they’ll be proposing to do is just to run up a huge amount of debt that everybody’s going to have to pay back on their energy bills over the next 10 years or so.