Derby Climate Coalition organised an anti-fracking meeting on the 9th of March. We heard some fantastic campaigners; from Sherwood Forest, Amber Valley and from Eckington in NE Derbyshire. 20 people came to our meeting.
We swapped lots of information and resources. A UK Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence (PEDL) allows a company to pursue a range of oil and gas exploration activities, subject to necessary drilling/development consents and planning permission. There are currently 230 onshore licences, covering 529 blocks. Here are some maps of PEDLS: UK oil and gas
More info on the actual responsibilities with the licence are here .
Thanks to Chris Crean from Friends of the Earth (FOE) for supplying this. FOE fracking info is here and that for Frack Off is here. and here also are the links for Frack free South Yorks and Frackfree Notts
In summary, the Government is finding it rather difficult to roll out fracking across the UK. For two reasons. First it is proving to be rather expensive, especially because of the lowering of costs of renewable energy.
Secondly, and above all, because of the resistance by local campaigners.There are now hundreds and hundreds of anti-fracking groups up and down the country.
Here are some more photo’s from the Eckington demonstration against fracking on February 25.
There were 260 people there and the local parish council brought its own banner and is promising to lead the fight all the way up to the Derbyshire County Council. See the link to the Eckington against fracking Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/EckingtonAgainstFracking/
It may well be that the government may be defeated!