Minutes:
Councillor Pugsley left the Chamber for the duration of the item.
Moved by Councillor Ellis, seconded by Councillor Darch.
Councillor Ellis hoped the Council will take action to stop fracking in our district before it can even start. Areas around Minehead, Watchet and a corner of Exmoor National Park were licensed by Government for unconventional onshore oil and gas exploration at the end of 2015. Southwestern Energy which holds the licenses is in the process of raising funds to start exploratory drilling. We cannot let this happen. Fracking is strongly opposed in our district. The Liberal Democrats, Labour, Greens and Conservatives Environment Network, Taunton Transition Town all oppose it. Residents of Exmoor, Quantocks and Sedgemoor have come together to oppose it with Frack-Free EQS. Watchet and Wiveliscombe Town Councils oppose it and have become frack-free zones. Fracking has support from the public of only 12 percent. Hydraulic Fracking involves the drilling of wells several kilometres down vertically and horizontally, smashing open the shale with huge volumes of water, sound and toxic chemicals, leaving vast quantities of toxic waste to dispose of.
We’ve seen the impact of fracking in the USA, Canada and Australia and in Lancashire. We do not want our beautiful countryside industrialised and despoiled by wells and drilling equipment. We do not want our vital habitats, species and eco-systems damaged, fragmented or lost. We are not prepared to see our vital water supplies put under intolerable pressure. We should not countenance the risk of ground water contamination or air pollution from methane or other volatile organic compounds. Our regulatory framework was significantly under-funded and a lot of the safety monitoring was done by the fracking companies themselves. Accidents and leaks happen. Even if you wanted to run these risks, there is the immutable fact that Fracking produces far more greenhouse gases than any other fossil fuel.
Fracking would torpedo this District’s urgent efforts to make itself carbon neutral by 2030 and avert a climate catastrophe. Government used to rely on the argument that it would be an acceptable bridging fuel whilst renewable energy came on. She urged Councillors to read the Mobb’s Report which challenged this outdated science. Renewables were ready to close the gap left by coal. There was no need to frack. Government had already admitted that authorities such as Somerset County Council and Exmoor National Park Authority were at liberty to adopt a presumption against fracking contrary to the government based on the latest scientific evidence related to climate change. Our opposition will be a material consideration. Our aim is to stop it before it starts and even gets to a Planning Application, hence the challenge to our Members of Parliament to champion our opposition and pressure the government to rescind their pro-fracking policies.
The message from Somerset West and Taunton Councillors needed to be loud and clear; not here, not anywhere, Frack off!
Councillor Darch seconded the motion and thanked her for her rigorous research into the science and legality of fracking. The detailed briefing set out a robust case to the public, Somerset County Council and the fracking companies. At one point in time Fracking may have been seen as a reasonable interim measure before renewable energy became established but that time has passed. The growth of renewables and the alarming pace of Climate change has changed this. Before the election many of us would have been approached by local environmental groups with four pledges, one of which was related to fracking. Let’s do what we promised!
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-
· Councillor Mansell stated that Wiveliscombe Town Council had passed a similar motion in December 2017 and hoped this would prove a strong deterrence to fracking ever occurring in SWT. He supported the need to divest from Fracking which many authorities already were including the National Trust. The Governor of the Bank of England had also recently warned against investment.
· Councillor Weston stated that Somerset West and Taunton Labour Party had this in their manifesto so would support. Proposing fracking so close to a nuclear power station was a major concern.
· Councillor Wren sought clarification on the likely costs of divestment and how often our investments were generally reviewed?
· The s151 Officer set out the detail on this in the Motions Assessment pro-forma. The £5/10,000 cost was a research cost on Council investments on Treasury arrangements. The Council could obtain advice on alternative places to invest and the consequences in terms of investment performance. There was no statutory requirement to have an ethical approach, only around security and public funds. The Council reviewed its Treasury Strategy on an annual basis.
· Councillor Aldridge supported the motion and believed renewable energy would continue to expand, such as electricity in transport.
· Councillor Thwaites stated that as with the Climate motion this was not party political and urged the roll out of more electric charging points.
· Councillor Pilkington stated that the Council would see EV Charging points go out soon.
· Councillor Allen clarified that electric vehicle charging point’s stored power and gave it back to the grid as a net benefit.
· Councillor Smith-Roberts stated that this would send a clear message to those with the Planning powers that this is where SWT stood on this issue.
· Councillor Whetlor stated that Watchet Town Council had supported this issue.
· Councillor Marcia Hill stated that this was important to push on this issue from the ground up.
· Councillor Habgood supported the motion but the power to make this decision was not at the district level. Concern was raised over the unintended consequences of the investment proposals.
· Councillor Buller stated that investment companies managing funds would find it very difficult when they can change on a daily basis.
The Council was therefore recommended:-
1. To declare Somerset West and Taunton a Frack Free zone.
2. To oppose unconventional onshore oil and gas exploration and development activities on any land that we own or have an interest in.
3. Not to invest in any companies which are involved in fracking, including other methods of unconventional onshore oil and gas production.
4. To call on Somerset County Council and Exmoor National Park Authority to pass similar motions and to put planning policies in place to implement a presumption against all applications for unconventional oil and gas exploration and production in Somerset, including fracking, following the example of the Greater Manchester Authorities and the new draft London Plan.
5. To write to our district’s MPs to convey the Council’s concerns about and opposition to fracking, to urge them to lobby Government to ban unconventional onshore oil and gas development permanently and to request that they write back indicating whether they are supporting the Council in this matter.
The substantive motion was thus put and was carried with one vote against and two abstentions.