On Tuesday, the government announced that new licences for oil and gas exploration have been awarded for 27 areas across the Midlands and northern England, sparking a massive backlash from anti-fracking campaigners.

The licences were awarded as part of the 14th licensing round for onshore oil and gas. A further 132 licences are set to be awarded across the country, pending environmental assessment.

Fracking is an invasive means of fossil fuel extraction, which involves shooting a high pressure mix of sand, water and chemicals into shale gas formations to release trapped oil and gas. The controversial technique has been used in the United States, though it has been widely opposed by environmental campaigners who fear it could lead to public health impacts and environmental damage.  

Campaigners have reacted strongly to the plans. Nick Clack, senior energy campaigner at the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said, “If fracking is to go ahead anywhere, it needs to be within the strictest safeguards and with community approval. Yet the Government is announcing that new licences will be offered just as ministers threaten to take fracking decisions away from local communities and while environmental controls in protected areas remain inadequate. The public understands the need to diversify our energy supply, but a licence to frack should not give licence to trample over local people and their environment.”

Ken Cronin, a spokesperson for UKOOG, which represents fracking interests, welcomed “the offers of these licenses and the continued support from government,” which he said would be “critical in developing a genuine UK based energy mix for this country and… in helping us to reduce CO2 emissions.”

However, Friends of the Earth spokesperson Andrew Pendleton,said, “Opening up huge swathes of Northern England to a fracking blitz will only provoke more anger and controversy, because wherever fracking has been proposed, it has been opposed by local people.

“The Government’s own report into the rural economy impacts of fracking highlights a myriad of concerns, including a drop in house prices, impacts on tourism, and increased noise and traffic congestion - not to mention local environment and climate risks.”

Pendleton continued, “These offered licences to frack will cause yet more anxiety for people living under the cloud of fracking, now that the Government is allowing companies to drill right through aquifers that are used to supply household drinking water.”

CPRE’s Nick Clack added, “There now needs to be a decisive shift to shore up environmental safeguards and reassure communities. We need financial guarantees up front to restore any affected landscapes, and a requirement to fully assess the local environmental impacts of multiple wells in the same area. The Government has also never assessed the potential national impact of shale oil, as opposed to shale gas, so ministers must now set out its full rationale for its exploration.”