Fracking 'still not welcome' in Sheffield as Government eyes up north for 'exploration licences' into drilling

Downing Street has reportedly instructed ministers to relook at drilling for natural gas inshore in the UK as an option for alternative energy.

It would mean reversing a ban on fracking introduced in 2019, and comes as a result of Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordering a new “energy supply strategy” to explore domestic energy resources after the Ukraine invasion exposed the west's dependence on Russian gas.

But the plans have been coldly received. The Guardian reports that out of 138 MPs in constituencies with exploratory licences for fracking, only five were onboard with it in a survey carried out last week. Sheffield’s Gill Furniss, Olivia Blake and Clive Betts said they did not support it.

Now, chief members of Sheffield’s Green and Lib Dem parties also say the scheme is not welcome in the city.

It comes after the city council agreed a cross-party policy in 2019 to oppose any applications and take an automatic stand not to drill for shale gas.

Sheffield’s executive member for climate change, Councillor Douglas Johnson (Green Party), said: "The council’s position is basically unchanged.

"It goes completely against the council’s commitment to the climate emergency, and it perpetuates the reliance on low grade gases.

“And since we came to this position, there’s been so much more scope for renewables like solar energy producing more power.

"Reopening fracking is not a wise decision at all. If they’re trying to double down on fracking, it will just continue our dependence on gas, and we’re still going to depend on international markets.

"It’s true that in extreme circumstances the national Government can impose things on local communities and override planning permissions granted by local councillors – but I’m not convinced there’s a viable plan of what the Government is trying to do. I think they’ve just floated the idea.”

Sheffield took up a “presumption” against fracking in 2019 following a motion by the Liberal Democrats, which led to the council joining 10 local authorities with a region-wide policy of opposition to the scheme.

However, the city’s Liberal Democrat leader, Shaffaq Mohammed, was also concerned fracking could still be imposed on the area.

He said: “Turning to fracking isn’t going to resolve the energy crisis, and I think the alternatives Boris Johnson is pursuing of buying oil from the Saudis isn’t going to happen either.

"Any fracking in Sheffield would be against the wishes of the council and its elected members.

"Clearly what we’re committed to as a city and as a nation is to net-zero by 2030, and our energies need to be put towards reducing consumption.

"But at the moment we’re got a terrible local plan – if the Government decides it wants fracking back against the council’s wishes we need to have a robust planning decision to stop it.”

Meanwhile, Rother Valley’s Conservative MP, Alexander Stafford, told the House of Commons last week: “It is yesterday’s technology and will not solve our cost problems. It will take far too long to roll out. We must wean ourselves off hydrocarbons – which leave us in hock to awful dictators like Putin, or at the mercy of fluctuating international energy prices.”