Councillors in North Yorkshire gave the green light to a shale gas fracking application from Third Energy on Monday.
Britain is estimated to have substantial amounts of shale gas trapped in underground rocks and British Premier David Cameron has vowed to leave no stone unturned to extract these reserves.
North Yorkshire county council’s planning committee voted in favour of the application 7 to 4 after two days of hearings.
Rasik Valand, chief executive of Third Energy, said: “This approval is not a victory, but is a huge responsibility. We will have to deliver on our commitment, made to the committee and to the people of Ryedale, to undertake this operation safely and without impacting on the local environment.”
Third Energy plans to frack at a site in Ryedale near Kirby Misperton.
The planning consent or permission is a boost to Britain’s shale gas industry nearly a year after local government officials in Lancashire turned down two permits for shale gas firm Cuadrilla.
Cuadrilla has appealed against the decision and the government has since changed the rules to be able to approve shale gas permits at government level.
Over 4,000 people had lodged objections against Third Energy’s plans, raising fears over safety, the impact on tourism and the potential for the “industrialisation of the countryside”.
According to The Daily Telegraph, energy minister Andrea Leadsom has hailed the decision, saying ministers were “looking forward to the safe exploration of shale gas beginning and finding out just how much of this home-grown energy supply is available to power our homes and businesses”.
But extracting the gas requires hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – a process that involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to fracture the rock. It is highly controversial due to concerns about its environmental impact.
Valand previously told The Daily Telegraph he hoped that fracking might take place before the end of this year in a best case scenario.
“This is an absolute travesty of a decision but the battle is very far from over,” said Simon Bowens, Yorkshire and Humber campaigner for Friends of the Earth.
Third Energy is 97% owned by Barclay’s Global Natural Resources Investments.
