in Council Chamber, Barry 17 Oct. 2011
A range of protesters and independents were permitted to put a 10-minute case to the Committee, with the applicants (a 'family' business, Coastal Oil and Gas) taking twice that long. Cllr Chris Williams in the Chair told everyone not to relate it to the planning application, but then the chief Officer outlined his planning report on the Llandow application. He reported the reply from the First Minister to the Council Leader as arriving too late, giving no guidance and “in essence” saying the application was for local determination. Yet that letter arrived on the day of the evening planning committee (29 Sept.) but was held back, presumably as it said of unconventional gas extraction that
- “there are additional environmental considerations” and
- “a precautionary approach should be taken”.
Cllr Rob Curtis, who'd called for the special meeting, proposed a paper motion calling for a suspension of fracking permits until public concerns had been assuaged – and none of the Committee dared vote against. One said forcefully that there's no regulatory regime in place – despite government talk that the public should rely on the Environment Agency as regulator – as fracking for gas is fundamentally different from coal mining and oil extraction. Another said “precaution” requires us to wait a few years pending sufficient evidence.
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