The Leader of Wiltshire Council did not agree to make a commitment to ban fracking in the county at the latest cabinet meeting.   

Council Leader Richard Clewer was called to make the pledge by Liberal Democrat Leader Ian Thorn but Clewer said it would not be ‘sensible’.   

This comes after fracking across England was given the green light by the new prime minister Liz Truss in September. 

At the meeting on October 11 Councillor Thorn said: “I’m just wondering in terms of our commitment to reducing carbon whether we want to have an absolute commitment to no fracking at all in the county. That would seem to me a very positive message. It is something that would reassure residents in the county.”  

But Cllr Clewer replied: “There are no fracking licenses in Wiltshire so it is not something we are looking at. A Local Plan could not prescriptively say no fracking because government could overall it and have overruled that, it’s a matter of government policy. But there are no licence owns in Wiltshire. There were some that were suggested but none were taken up. It is not something that we are facing at the moment.”  

The Wiltshire Local Plan is the council’s strategy for development planning, which provides an overarching vision for building and demolition in Wiltshire and other things including environmental, economic and social priorities.  

Cllr Thorn pushed the matter again and said: “Does anything stop us from putting that into our Local Plan? It may be stripped out by an inspector but nonetheless it sends out a signal in terms of Wiltshire’s determination to prevent fracking from taking place in the county.”  

However, Cllr Clewer said: “I’m not sure it’s sensible to put something in the Local Plan that goes against government policy because it will simply be removed. It’s a political statement you’re making at that point and not a more sensible one. I think a more sensible argument is the fact that investment in fracking isn’t coming from the large gas or oil producers it’s coming from small companies because that kind of investment needs a 25–30-year return and all the evidence globally is that gas demand will be falling off significantly long before that return will be realised.”  

Fracking was banned in 2019 after a report by the North Sea Transition Authority found it was not possible at that time to predict the probability or strength of earthquakes caused by fracking.