Wednesday 31st October 2018

(6 years ago)

Westminster Hall
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Mark Menzies Portrait Mark Menzies
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The companies concerned argue that there are substantial reserves of shale gas. The issue, and the difference between the United Kingdom and large swathes of America, is population density. We are not Dakota or rural Pennsylvania, where people can travel for hundreds of miles without seeing a farmhouse.

Alec Shelbrooke Portrait Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)
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My hon. Friend makes an important point. It is about not just population density, but unique areas. In my constituency, the villages of Allerton Bywater and Great Preston have many unmapped mine shafts. Looking at what is happening in Lancashire with seismic movement, there is a real concern with the exploratory licence that has been granted that, in areas with unmapped mine shafts, seismic movement will cause collapses and sinkholes at the top. Decisions at the local level are, therefore, more important in this kind of planning application.

Mark Menzies Portrait Mark Menzies
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My hon. Friend’s point is well made.