North Yorkshire County Council's planning committee granted approval for plans to frack for shale gas, against the action of environmental campaigners to stop the Third Energy's plans for new source of gas in the area.
Since the ban on fracking was lifted in 2012, this is the first operation of its kind to be approved in England. Environmental campaigners such as Friends of the Earth and Frack Free Ryedale applied to the High Court to review the decision to allow fracking close to the North York Moors National Park, explaining that the county council failed to appropriately assess climate change and secure the long-term financial protection against damage to the environment.
According to Mrs Justice Lang the council "acted lawfully", dismissing the call for a judicial review of the case from the campaigners.
A statement released by the council said: "We followed a statutory process, and the High Court has found, that we followed it correctly and has rejected the issues raised by Friends of the Earth" adding the council "has not sought to bring fracking to North Yorkshire. Having received this application, we had a responsibility to determine it and to apply national and local policies".
The chief executive at Third Energy, Rasik Valand, stated that the green light for this operation places a great obligation on the company to prove that they can carry the tasks out in "the same safe, discreet and environmentally sensitive way" and that they "will prove to the local community that their elected representatives were right to grant this permission."
