Policy DM15: Mineral Working Exploration, Extraction and Processing

Regarding hydraulic fracturing or fracking, the Trust's current view is that applications should be  assessed on their ecological impacts both directly on the footprint of the site and on the surrounding habitat including watercourses, etc.  We welcome the policy reference to potential impacts on biodiversity and we would expect there to be a full environmental impact assessment as part of the planning process for any such application and consultation with local people.

We understand the government has recently announced that it will be producing planning guidance on shale gas extraction in the summer and it might consider these applications as major infrastructure projects which means they are taken out of the hands of local authorities' decision-making processes.  We would be interested in the Council's views on this and presumably Policy DM15 may need to change depending on the form the guidance takes.