Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons he has decided to recover the planning appeals by Caudrilla Resources to build shale gas wells at Roseacre and Preston New Road.

The reasons for the Secretary of State’s decision are set out in his letter to parties. This makes clear that the drilling appeals involve proposals for exploring and developing shale gas which amount to proposals for development of major importance having more than local significance and proposals which raise important or novel issues of development control, and/ or legal difficulties.