Wednesday 16th December

This will be a significant moment in our campaign, as we will fight out what two of our district councils views are on fracking. We have incredible campaigners on the ground fighting to ensure councillors are listening to the people.

  • Bassetlaw District Council will be deciding on it’s response as a consultee to the Misson exploratory shale gas application. More on this on the Drill or Drop website. There will be a demonstration from 5.55pm outside Worksop Town Hall.
  • Broxtowe Borough Council will be debating a motion to oppose fracking in the borough. There will a demonstration from 6.30pm outside the Borough Council, Devonshire Avenue. The motion reads:

This Council:

  1. notes the presence of shale gas and coal bed methane in the Broxtowe region and surrounding East Midlands;
  2. notes the recent mass protests against shale gas drilling in both Lancashire and West Sussex;
  3. notes the controversy about both the supposed benefits of extracting onshore gas resources and the local environmental impacts;
  4. notes the recent IPCC evidence that 60-80% of world fossil fuel reserves need to be left in the ground if average global temperature rise is to remain within 2 degrees;
  5. believes that there is also compelling evidence that UK shale gas and coal bed methane would form part of that 60-80%;
  6. notes that the large amounts of water needed for hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas (known as fracking) would impact water supplies in this region, which are also threatened by the impact of climate change;
  7. notes the well-documented risk of groundwater contamination as a result of fracking, which would exacerbate the pressure on water supply
  8. notes the unavoidable increase in noise, visual intrusion and air pollution from heavy traffic in communities close to fracking sites;

This Council:

  1. Opposes development of shale gas and coal bed methane extraction in Broxtowe
  2. will seek to attract appropriate funding for projects which increase energy efficiency, sustainability and self-sufficiency, stabilise energy bills, and create jobs in the green economy;
  3. directs officers to send a copy of this motion to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and the Minister of State for the Department for Energy and Climate Change
  4. This Council believes it is counter productive and unsustainable to be offering massive tax-cuts for fracking and this money should instead have been used to kick-start a major national retrofit scheme, which would reduce carbon emissions and bills and create thousands of green-collar jobs.

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