The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has responded to the Government's Consultation on permitted development for shale gas exploration. They have responded to the Consultation as an "abuse" to the system and considered whether such a development should be decided under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime.
The RTPI warns about the scale and complexity of exploratory drilling "entirely dwarfs" development that currently falls under permitted development rights. They noted permitted development ignores the highly sensitive local issues and environmental hazards associated with shale gas exploration.
As permitted development rights are designed for small scale development, the RTPI say they should not be applied to a "complex, disruptive and highly contested exploration process for which it is not suited". They added that using them this way devalues the plan-led system for minerals planning in England.
Richard Blyth, RTPI head of policy and research states that "permitted development is not appropriate" and is a false economy.
"Capacity and costs implications for local planning teams aside, we do not agree that control of such significant developments should bypass a proper local, professional and democratic process".
The proposals would see companies wanting to explore for shale gas, have to give notification to Local Authority before they can start on site. The fees, suggested as £200 per notification, are "wholly insufficient to cover the amount of work [councils] need to do to make exploration safe and satisfactory".
"The prior notification process will either take so long that it ends up as protracted as a planning application, or it is done so scantily that it fails to make the proper safeguards and provokes community objections."
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