Making Fracking Easier

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MAKING FRACKING EASIER: A RECENT CHANGE IN ENGLISH PLANNING LAW By Paul Stafford Introduction On 13 January 2014 government regulations simplified the process for granting planning permission to energy companies for fracking operations. This was a significant change to the law but appears to have received little scrutiny in Parliament because the legislation in question was effected by statutory instrument: The Town and Country Planning (Development

Management

Procedure

and

Section

62A Applications)

(England)

(Amendment No. 2) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/3194). The Order does not apply to Wales. Paragraph 2(4)(b) of the Order dealt with amendments to the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010 as follows: In the case of an application for planning permission for development consisting of the winning and working of oil or natural gas (including exploratory drilling) – (a) the applicant is not required to serve a notice under paragraph 2(a) [of Article 11 of the 2010 Order] in relation to any land which is to be used solely for underground operations.

The reference to paragraph 2(a) of Article 11 of the 2010 Order was to a notice which had to be served on an owner or tenant ‘of any of the land to which the application relates.’ That notice no longer has to be served.

Planning and property law in the light of Cuadrilla’s operations at Balcombe The background to this change comes from the experience of drilling operations at Balcombe in Sussex in 2013. The energy company, Cuadrilla, had a government licence to explore for, 1


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