How we helped to
end fracking

Fracking was never a good idea. This method of extracting oil and natural gas from shale rock underground is controversial for lots of reasons. Its large-scale adoption could have industrialised our countryside, pushed communities out of decision-making and worsened the climate crisis. And it carried the risk of causing earthquakes near where people live.

There had already been a thriving, energetic and successful anti-fracking movement in the UK since 2011, when protests started appearing in Lancashire and Sussex, and many environmental NGOs, particularly Friends of the Earth, had been campaigning against fracking for many years. But it was clear that a new direction was needed to ensure the force of the opposition could be effectively translated into influencing the senior politicians who were making decisions on fracking.

In May 2018, the government released plans to allow exploratory drilling as 'permitted development' - which meant that fracking companies could set up and drill without getting planning permission. This meant local councils, and local communities, couldn't have their say in whether fracking appeared near them.

The threat was dozens of new drilling sites appearing all over the English countryside – with the risk of unrestricted environmental, landscape and climate impact.

The plans were also a disaster for local democracy, shutting local people out of the decision-making process. Local campaigner Barbara Richardson, whose Lancashire village was a target for fracking sites, told us how the plans would have affected local people.

With CPRE's long track record of work on planning and local democracy, we realised that CPRE could play a key role in leading this new direction. So we seized the chance to work with our brilliant supporters and use our expertise and reputation in planning policy to help pressure the government to turn round its plans.

Within weeks of the announcement, we launched a major petition in partnership with 38 Degrees to show the huge public opposition to the plans.

And we set up a working group with other anti-frackers, including Friends of the Earth, 38 Degrees, 350.org, SumOfUs and Frack Free United. Each of us brought different strengths to the table to form a coordinated and collaborative approach to the campaign - helping to demonstrate the widespread opposition to the government’s proposals to fast-track fracking.

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By June, thousands of amazing CPRE supporters had already got involved with our 'Don't fast-track fracking' campaign. Whether signing our petition, writing to councillors and MPs or donating to our fundraising appeal – all these individual actions added up to a massive boost for the campaign.

Just weeks after launching, our petition had reached 100,000 signatures, which quickly rose to 150,000 in July. This huge swell of support helped us grab the media's attention, with headlines in most of the major national newspapers.

At the same time, protests by grassroots campaign groups were growing at the Preston New Road fracking site, where initial attempts at fracking were causing earthquakes.

The issue clearly struck a chord, with 30,000 new CPRE supporters signing up to find out more about the campaign.

Together, we harnessed this people power to show national and local politicians just how many people were opposed to the government's plans. Thousands of CPRE supporters took part in our online action and wrote to their council leaders, urging them to take action on the issue.

Public opposition to fracking grew so strong that, in August, the government stopped asking people about their support for fracking in its regular public attitudes survey. Clearly the message was beginning to hit home, but more needed to be done to get the government to drop its proposals.

As well as demonstrating huge public opposition to the fracking proposals, we went one further by showing there was little support for fast-tracked fracking even among Conservative politicians.

Together with Friends of the Earth, we polled local Conservative councillors and found overwhelmingly that they were against government proposals to fast-track fracking. 80% said exploratory fracking should need planning permission, while 65% said local councils should have final say on fracking.

Meanwhile, CPRE's network of local groups wrote to their local MPs and council leaders asking them to oppose the plans. We also sent letters to over 100 MPs asking them to raise concerns about fast-tracked fracking.

All of this pressure led to a first parliamentary debate on the issue of fracking and local democracy. The debate was packed with MPs from all parties criticising the proposals. Many MPs mentioned how many letters they received from concerned constituents.

As always at CPRE, we made sure our campaign was based on clear principles and strong evidence. This meant we were able to refute all the bogus claims levied at us from the pro-fracking lobby.

In October we submitted our official response to the government's consultation on the fracking plans. We developed this submission with the help of our local groups, many of whom had been fighting fracking for years in their local areas.

At the same time, we signed an open letter in The Telegraph against fast-tracked fracking with 19 other environmental organisations, including the Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Greenpeace UK and the Woodland Trust.

A second Westminster Hall debate on fracking and local democracy was even more well-attended, with 40 MPs from all parties opposing the proposals - thanks again to thousands of CPRE supporters writing to and even ringing their MPs.

To top it all off, our petition reached 200,000 signatures. We joined together with our partner organisations to deliver a combined 300,000 signatures to the government - showing huge opposition the proposals.