What happens when consultees want a much wider debate than the consultation scope allows? Can you question the effectiveness of Regulation?

People in Lancashire are upset.

Many of them have campaigned vigorously against drilling for shale gas. Following the County Council’s refusal to grant planning permission, Cuadrilla, the applicant, appealed. After a Planning Inquiry, the Government has overruled the authority and permission has now been given. It exposes the tension between local and national democracy, and raises important planning issues. There are also some critical issues affecting public consultation.

Stripped to its essentials, this dispute boils down to two fundamental arguments. One is about energy policy and the pressure to abandon fossil fuels. The other is about the perceived risks to the environment and the alleged impact of exploration and exploitation.

The first argument was meant to have been fixed by the 2008 Planning Act. Fed up with re-running an argument on the principle each time the UK needed to decide where to build big infrastructure, the Act obliged Government to consult on and publish National Policy Statements on everything from airports to nuclear power. The idea was to settle the overall nationwide debate so that policy implementation could focus on where rather than whether. In the event, there was nothing on fracking and the Government had to pass a new Infrastructure Act in 2015 to make provision for shale gas exploration.