Cllr Sarah Lunnon (Stroud Central) has submitted the Stroud District Green Party’s response to Gloucestershire’s Minerals Local Plan. She noted ” Even though Fracking is deeply unpopular in the County the Tories have chosen to roll over and accept the government’s arguments in favour of Fracking. They are failing to protect communities, failing to protect our countryside and failing to take action to secure a safe Climate. This is the document that will be used to grant, or not, fracking applications in Gloucestershire. As it is, this Plan presents an open door to frackers who want to come to Gloucestershire.”
Sarah’s response carefully and thoughtfully challenges a number of points in the plan, pointing out that the policy as it stands fails to comply with the Climate Change Act 2008 and the COP21 Paris agreement, as well as being harmful to the Gloucestershire environment.
She also takes issue with the idea that any restrictions on fracking should be “proportionate”; a clear inference that the rights of the people of Gloucestershire to a healthy environment should be balanced against corporate needs to make large amounts of money.
You can download the full submission here.