Put fracking on fast track, councils told

New rules, applicable immediately, will allow government intervention to approve or reject permits and will also mean appeals involving shale gas projects will be given priority.

In Scotland, the SNP Government slapped a moratorium on all fracking in January, pending further research and consultation.

If councils are deemed to be underperforming, then all applications for gas and oil developments could be determined by Clark.

“We need more secure, home-grown energy supplies – and shale gas must play a part in that”.

Clark added: “People’s safety and the environment will remain paramount and communities will always be involved in planning applications but no one benefits from uncertainty caused by delays in planning decisions”.

But Greenpeace head of energy campaign Daisy Sands said: ” Local residents could end up with virtually no say over whether their homes, communities and national parks are fracked or not.

In moves the Government hopes will “fast track” shale gas, Clark has committed to actively consider calling in shale applications and recovering appeals where sites have been turned down.

“This positive early action should help break the log jam that has developed in some areas of the country and give first mover advantage to those communities willing to quickly embrace the shale gas revolution”, she said.

Cuadrilla said that the company “warmly welcomed” the announcement, adding: “Local authorities are expected to assess and determine planning applications of all types within a certain timeframe, so this announcement is primarily about getting the existing planning system to work as it is intended”.

In May, it said it plans to transfer consenting power for large onshore wind from the energy minister to local planning authorities in England.

Ministers now say new regulations are needed as council decision making has been “slow and confused”.

But the Government has made clear it is “going all out for shale” and has underlined its commitment to building a UK shale gas and oil industry.

In a June decision campaigners branded a “Waterloo” for the industry, Lancashire county council denied fracking firm Cuadrilla rights to drill at two sites in the county, citing visual and environmental concerns.

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Caroline Flint, said this showed the government was “clearly guilty of double standards”.

The move comes just days after energy secretary Amber Rudd hinted that her department wanted to see shale gas applications speeded up.

Fracking companies have complained that councils are taking too long to decide on applications and making unreasonable objections.

Ms Rudd insisted fracking is a “good idea” and stressed that councils taking longer than the statutory 16 weeks to reach a decision on whether it will happen in their local area damage the industry’s confidence.

A spokesman told BBC News: “It would be very unfair to suggest that we didn’t go as fast as possible. The choice is how much we rely on gas from overseas or whether we extract more in the UK”.

The government says it also plans to release details of a new sovereign wealth fund later this year, which would be filled from fracking revenues.

All call-ins and appeals over shale applications will be prioritised by the planning inspectorate.

The new policy follows Cuadrilla’s drawn-out application for drilling in Lancashire.