The government is pressing on with plans to change the law to make it easier for firms to explore for and extract shale gas, despite an overwhelmingly negative public response to its consultation - many on the grounds of possible effects on house prices and sales.
Knight Frank reports that in the government's response to the consultation, it revealed that of 40,647 responses received, a remarkable 99 per cent opposed the proposal to remove the need for companies to gain the consent of property owners for horizontal drilling beyond 300 metres below their land or houses.
However, the government claimed that most of the respondents stated their opposition to fracking, rather than commenting on the specific access proposals.
It also said that existing legislation would safeguard landowners from pollution claims or other issues that might arise in the future.
Where the company responsible had become insolvent or could not be identified, the government said it was working with UKOOG, the trade body for the onshore oil and gas industry, to develop a scheme to provide cover.
In the summer Estate Agent Today reported that a government report - Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts, written in the spring and published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, allegedly had references to house prices removed from the version made available to the public
Those parts of the report not removed included a reference to US experience, where homes close to fracking drilling sites lost up to 14 per cent of their value, and proved more difficult to sell
A Lancashire pressure group against fracking in that county claims that an estate agent earlier this year urged sellers to accept offers and move out as quickly as possible before more became known about fracking.
Comments
It does make you wonder what else was mysteriously 'missing' from this Government report! The Government are again disregarding the overwhelming opposition to the proposal from the public!
The government don't pay any attention to what the public or experts think. They only care about one thing - profit, profit, profit. Do as I say, not as I do is the government's usual mantra, and it won't be any different here. They'll look out for their own self-interest, even if it is to the detriment of the public at large.