“Fracking is being forced on local communities”

At the end of last week, I spent two incredible days meeting anti-fracking groups in Misson, Eckington and Ryedale, along with our campaigns manager Heather and filmmaker Alex.

The campaigners we met are on the frontline of a fight that we all should be involved in.

If fracking goes ahead, we’ll increase our reliance on fossil fuels instead of working towards a green future.

Fracking would cause financial, environmental and health problems for local people - it’s just not necessary.

The government has indicated that we don’t need fracked gas for our energy security, and in fact much of the gas would be used to create plastic (another major issue), or burnt to create electricity at only 30% efficiency.

The other major argument in favour of fracking is that it creates jobs, but we were told by campaigners that each fracking well would only create four jobs and that countless more could be lost due to the impact on tourism.

In Eckington, we met Tracy and Aunty Jenny who run one of only four remaining rose nurseries in the country. Tracy lives and works 500 metres from the proposed fracking site and was able to speak to the boss of INEOS, one of the major fracking companies, when he visited last year. She asked him how many fracking wells she could potentially see from her nursery- he told her 300.

Eckington is an old mining town which has taken decades to recover from the death of that industry. It’s done so by building up tourism and promoting the unspoilt beauty of the location. That could all disappear. It’s also more likely to be impacted by gas leaks and earthquakes due to the unstable nature of the land under their feet after years of mining.

Fracking is being forced on local communities – we were told time and again that what they actually want is a government that supports new renewable energy and battery storage.

In Ryedale, 4,375 objected to the fracking planning application, only 36 people were in favour.

Democracy isn’t working. The government are siding with fracking companies that are only concerned with profit, not people or the planet.

Boycott the Big Six, and let your energy bills do the talking.