The UK High Court has declared certain key aspects of the government’s national planning policy to be unlawful as it failed to consider recent scientific evidence against fracking.
The judicial review, which was brought by Claire Stephenson on behalf of Environmental campaigning group Talk Fracking, challenged the government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) concerning shale gas extraction or fracking. The policy on fracking, adopted in 2015, relied on a report of the Department of Energy and Climate Change from 2013 that stated that emissions from shale gas extraction were comparable to gas extracted from conventional sources and lower than those arising from extraction of natural gas. The policy was therefore seen as a transition toward renewable energy sources.
Public consultation took place on the NPPF in March 2018 and, before the results were considered by the government, a revised NPPF was published which reaffirmed the position on fracking. Talk Fracking had submitted a report from 2017 which concluded that the government had substantially understated the emissions from fracking.
The case was brought on the grounds that the government had failed to take into account scientific developments since the NPPF was formulated in 2015 and had failed to carry out a lawful public consultation on the revised policy. The Court found that the failure to consider recent scientific and technical evidence rendered the NPPF unlawful. The Court stated that the need to avoid adverse consequences for climate change was an important aspect of whether the policy should be adopted and scientific evidence was material to this assessment.
The judgement also criticised the public consultation procedure, which it found to be “so flawed in its design and processes as to be unlawful”. The Court stated that it was clear from the evidence that the materials from Talk Fracking had never been taken into account or considered.
Further, the Court accepted that campaigners are entitled to raise climate change objections when local decisions about fracking are made, and councils will have to resolve those issues.
The UK government and Talking Fracking must now consider the implications of the judgment and make further submissions to court if an agreement cannot be reached. It is likely the government will have to undertake a review of the policy and undergo another public consultation before a new policy can be adopted.