Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many (a) applications have been received for licences and (b) licences have been issued for fracking in (i) York, (ii) North Yorkshire and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber since May 2010.

A Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence (PEDL) is a pre-requisite before any oil and gas operations, including fracking, can take place. No new PEDLs have been issued since 2008. DECC cannot comment on applications made in the current, 14^th, Onshore Oil & Gas Licensing Round, the results of which we expect to announce later this year.

All operations require planning permission, access agreement with relevant landowner(s), Environment Agency permits, HSE scrutiny, and DECC consent before they can commence. Within an existing PEDL, an application which included plans to frac in North Yorkshire was consented to by DECC in 2012 but, due to changes to the operator’s plans, the activity was not carried out.