Fracking: A Planning Law Insight

David Cameron has boldly announced that the UK should fully embrace the American model of widespread fracking of shale for oil and gas, stating: "I want us to get on board this change that is doing so much good and bringing so much benefit to North America". 

Supplies of natural gas now economically recoverable from shale in the United States could accommodate the country's domestic demand for natural gas at current levels of consumption for more than a hundred years: an economic and strategic boon home and abroad, and, at least in the near term, an important stepping-stone toward lower-carbon, greener energy. However, as things stand, unconventional oil and gas exploration in the UK is burdened by a powerful anti-fracking movement, led by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, ntand a cumbersome planning and environmental permit process.