Fracking Hell!!

The fracking application in Ryedale is crucial in the fight against Fracking.

The list below is the reasons why the Fracking industry is backing this application.

The site already has a conventional gas well.

A drilling rig was present on the site only 2 years ago.

ground water boreholes have already been drilled .

The pipework for removal of the gas is already on site.

Low population area.

Tory lead Unitary planning Authority.

The MP has given his blessing!!!. to fracking. (i wonder if Opperman has whipped him).

The North Yorks Park to the north have already given permission for a conventional gas well and a 37 km pipeline in the national park.

Third energy has told the MP that there will be up to 950 wells in the area within 5 years. the MP informed Parliament in a speech recorded in Hansard.

The application is the first to include testing and PRODUCTION.

You think this will not happen in Hexham, The Hexham area is to be included in a bidding round in 2 to 4 years time. If this application is approved then a rash of applications will appear and the Licensing rounds may be advanced.

Please object using the link below only a few days left.

TT and the Green Party.


This extract of a post from the Transition Network explains the situation with regard to Transition’s movements involvement in politics.

“At a local and national level the question of Transition/politics matters because one piece of legislation has the power to counter the good intentions of a million people doing good and kindly acts. Turning off the tap is preferable to constantly mopping up. And the Transition Movement is in danger of becoming handmaid to elite power, duly mopping up the mess left by cuts to welfare and public services. The Green Party is the only political and parliamentary organisation that gives radical voice to social justice and ecological sanity. Being political isn’t about ‘party politics’ – that common putdown by the confused and disingenuous – it’s about policies. And thanks to the hard work and foresight of the Green Party those policies are worked out and waiting to be voted for. The Transition Movement is still in its infancy. As it matures it must connect veggie boxes with ballot sheets.”

Extract from

Please keep the carbon in the ground!

Lots of action for TTer’s to be aware of on the small p front.

Hexham Town Councils Sustainability Policy was discussed at the Hexham Town Councils Planning and Infrastructure committee. The decision was made to send the Document back to the Town Plan Built Environment and Transport Group to be revised. The Sustainability policy hopefully will be discussed at the next Planning and Infrastructure committee and be presented to the full Council in Early March or April.

At the next Hexham Town Council meeting on Monday 2nd February at 6.45pm Sustrans/Northumberland County Council will make a presentation about a cycle and footpath routes audit.                                                                                                                                                Please come along to listen.

All below has not reached mainstream TV news and National Radio. But has been on the world service overnight. Why??

Lancashire County Council has deferred decision on 2 Fracking sites at the request of Cuadrilla. See here

The Prime Minister is determined to get fracking, He has a £5m fund to “advise the public on the benefits of fracking”. He is also trying to get Ministers to intervene in Local Government affairs.

Click Here

And the icing on the cake.

In 2010 David Cameron pledged that he would lead the ‘greenest government ever‘.

Now the Infastructure Bill amendment on a moratorium against Fracking has been defeated by 52, to 308, and of course Guy Opperman voted against the moratorium. Most Labour MPs did not vote. The issue of trespass under you home was not discussed as the debate ran out of time.

If reserves are proved this will involve drilling hundreds of wells. Well depletion means that 45% more wells have to be drilled every year to maintain production. This is compound expansion of drilling sites.

For example

Year 1, 20 sites

Year 2 29 sites

Year 3 42 sites

Year 3 60 sites

Each site is the size of a football pitch, add the attending pipelines. Each site requires vast amounts of water, toxic chemicals.

Here is a fun! Site.

At Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire one Coal bed Methane test site has been refused 4 others have permission. But the pressure is on as Bassetlaw and South Yorkshire sit on one of the largest areas of Coal bed Methane gas in the UK (Bowland Shale).

Coal bed Methane is methane (natural gas) trapped in coal seams underground. To extract the gas, after drilling into the seam, it is necessary to pump large amounts of water out of the coal seam to lower the pressure. It is often also necessary to frack the seam to extract the gas. There are a similar catalogue of negative environmental and social effects as with Shale Gas. This includes methane migration, toxic water contamination, air pollution, increased carbon emissions and a general industrialisation of the countryside. Impacts that are specific to CBM include depletion of the water table and potentially subsidence.

In common with other unconventional gas extraction, such as Shale Gas, CBM wells do not produce large amounts of gas per well and production declines very quickly. It is therefore necessary to drill large numbers of wells, covering huge swathes of the landscape. CBM exploitation began in the US and over 55,000 CBM wells have been drilled in the last decade or so, mostly in the western states (Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming in particular). In Australia, where it is known as Coal Seam Gas (CSG), over 5,000 CBM wells have been drilled in Queensland in the last few years and the industry is aggressively expanding into New South Wales. In the UK CBM is more advanced than Shale Gas and full scale production may begin soon.

The experence of CBM in the USA read here

Northumberland is on the list with licences already granted off our North East coast for Underground Coal Gasification.

Please keep the carbon in the ground!

Planning News



Erection of 3 no detached dwellings and private access track via new
access off public highway.


confirmation has been received from the applicant’s agent that these will not
house at Plot 3.”


Land North West Of Todridge Farm Great Whittington Northumberland
Installation of 30kWp ground mounted solar photovoltaic panels

Land At South West Of Black Hill Farm Yarridge Road Hexham Northumberland
Proposed installation of an 80 panel ground mounted solar pv array


The Government recently stated:
in planning policy’”

Of course this statement does not allow inappropriate developement.

Warden Solar farm and planning

Here is my submission as a member of Transition Tynedale in support of the Planning Permission at Warden. This scheme will save 49 tons of carbon per year according to the Carbon Trust.

Details here

As a Member of Transition Tynedale I support the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) “Presumption in favour of sustainable development”. In particular” When considering development proposals the Council will take a positive approach that reflects the presumption in
favour of sustainable development contained in the NPPF. It will always work retroactively with applicants jointly to find solutions which mean that proposals can be approved wherever possible, and to secure development that improves the economic, social and environmental conditions in the area”.
The NPPF also supports the transition to a low carbon future in a changing climate and encourages the use of renewable resources (for example, by the development of renewable energy).
The 2008 Climate change Act established the worlds first legally binding climate change target.
The Boatside project is the type of Renewable Energy Scheme that supports the UK binding agreement and by implication Northumberlands share of the agreement to reduce the UKs greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% (from the 1990 baseline) by 2050.
I personally know the site which is well screened by trees. The properties which benefit by offsetting their present Carbon Footprint with the energy produced by the scheme are the only properties overlooking the site.
I wholeheartedly supports the Green Belt Planning Statement as put forward by the applicant.

If you want to comment just try as I find the cut off dates a bit arbitrary

click on the comment tab, on the page at the top of this post  also dont be put off by the wording

“Comments may not be submitted at this time.”

This means that you cannot comment without regestering or by signing in.



Proposed Sustainability Policy for Hexham town council.







1. Background
2. Aim:
3. Quality of life objectives:
4. Quality of life powers:
• Changes to the Planning Act – attempt to simplify the process
• Neighbourhood plans – define local needs and aspirations
5. Implementation:
• Conduct community engagement and encourage participation.
• Facilitate workshops that support Transition and Resilience building.
• Create a Sustainable Development Working Group in support of the above
• Periodically monitor and review implementation progress.
Suggested members of the Sustainable Development Working Group include:
• Nominated councillor as Working Group chair.
Representatives of community organisations and businesses
Other interested councillors
6. Key Principles:
In all activities the aim will be to:
• Ensure local needs are met through local resources whenever possible.
• Protect and enhance the biodiversity of the town.
7. In the Council’s direct operations we will:
• Follow sustainability best practice and strive for continuous improvement.
8. In our wider community relations we will:
• Work collaboratively with local groups and others we can influence.

9. Performance reporting:
10. Formal issue and review:

Hexham Middle School Community Garden 15.11.2014

Royal Horticultural Society – It’s Your Neighbourhood

Megan Payne

Eric and Chris weaving the willow den’s shoots back in to shape.DSCN3820





Go Local return visit by Barbara and David Grundey




Human Dimensions in “Transition” from Barbara Grundey

Human Dimensions in “Transition” from Barbara Grundey
After the Transition Tynedale AGM 2014 I would like to share this quote with friends and Members of Transition Tynedale which I have found helpful towards ordering my thoughts and feelings about my future role in Transition Tynedale.

“Some situations which cause pain or suffering are avoidable, so part of our learning must be to analyse the situation and see if this is such a case. If it is, we must try to prevent it happening again. But perhaps the most painful situations are those that are apparently beyond our control. Another part of our learning is to recognise that there is unfairness, uncertainty, fear, loneliness and hurt in this world; learning to accept that this is the nature of the world can, of itself, be painful.

Initially we may be able to do little, bound up in an acute, self-centred pain and grief that come through some unhappy experience, we can learn a lot about the less-well-articulated, darker sides of our personality. These darker aspects should not be ignored. Although we tend to equate evil with darkness we should remember that in the plant world roots grow in the dark. Darkness and shadow are as much a part of the natural order as light.” (S Jocelyn Burnell, 1989 from Quaker Faith & Practice)
Before the Transition Tynedale AGM 2014 all the incumbent Directors had resigned except the Treasurer and the Secretary had also signaled his intention to resign after the AGM. This was a pattern repeated from the Transition Tynedale AGM 2013 when all the incumbent except the Treasurer chose not put themselves forward for re-election. In both cases we managed to rally around amongst ourselves resolve our differences and elect new Directors and re-elect the Treasurer to serve Transition Tynedale Ltd 2015. It is never going to be easy for any of us to make a difference!

My hope is that Transition Tynedale is growing up into an effective community organisation where success is celebrated and disappointments and difficulties are shared and resolved constructively and in friendship.
Heart felt congratulations and best wishes to the newly elected Directors of Transition Tynedake Ltd. Pat Turner, Megan Payne, and Wendy Breach. You can depend upon my continued support and friendship.
Barbara Grundey