Letters round-up

He was asked why his latest consultation exercise at Westminster on behalf of the fracking industry needed to be conducted in private when many people might be suspicious of this. He replied that he thought it would be helpful to have a discussion with the industry people without distractions.

The truth is that no one has a closed discussion on such a controversial issue unless there is something to be said that he does not wish the public to hear.

You are the last to see that your constituents are on to you, Kevin.

In October you chaired a meeting at Kirby Misperton on behalf of Third Energy who wish to frack near the village. In December you voted in favour of allowing fracking under National Parks, AONBs, World Heritage Sites, groundwater Source Protection Zones, etc despite having assured residents before the last election that you had strong reservations about fracking within your constituency boundaries.

Challenged as to what exactly has made you decide that fracking can now be done safely in Ryedale - with specific reference to documents and neutral, peer-reviewed expert witnesses - you have not replied.

We now know that your all-party parliamentary group on unconventional oil and gas received more than £70,000 in donations from the gas industry, which you disclaimed knowledge of despite being the vice-chairman of this committee for eight months, until your recent resignation. In this light, many will understandably feel that the purpose of your latest meeting – held this time behind closed doors on February 8 - was to work out a PR strategy for hoodwinking the public.

Here you will simply have been told what to do, and what to say, next, but without “distractions”.

Our former (Tory) MP Anne McIntosh famously and forensically dissected the claims of the fracking industry, and when they lied to her, she called them to account in public.

Even my Labrador knows instinctively who not to trust.

Sadly, this has eluded you.

Robert Field, Gilling East

Explanation needed on commitment

I WONDER if Kevin Hollinrake will be able to explain to his constituents (who he is supposed to represent) what has happened to the government’s commitment to local democracy (or “localism” as they have branded it) after the disclosure that ministers are considering fast tracking approvals for fracking for shale gas by designating them as being part of the “Nationally Significant Infrastructure”.

This would mean that when the industry are looking to put production wells across the country they could do so without any account of local community feelings or opposition (of course if it were a wind farm then any minor local opposition would stop it).

Will our “protected areas” like National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty still be exempt if it is considered of national importance to frack them?

After all some of the licences granted are wholly within the North York Moors Park.

The government has already said that it will speed up the present planning applications by calling them in to be decided centrally (as in Lancashire).

It is ironic that the application for a test frack at Kirby Misperton has been held up because the company, Third Energy, has not been able to provide adequate information.

As we have just seen in the junior doctors’ debacle this government will push through its ill-thought out policies at any cost.

We criticise countries like Russia for their authoritarian government whilst ours is gradual chipping away at our own democratic rights.

It is time we all took notice and spoke out.

Glyn Wild, Swinton

Local democracy is being eroded

I WONDER how many people realise how local democracy is being eroded by government?

This government promised devolved power to the provinces, but how many people realise that the government are planning to call in the decision on fracking?

They will allow the planning committee to make the decision, but if it isn’t pro-fracking the Secretary of State for Local Communities will over rule it.

What other decisions will they take away from us? We are on a very slippery slope if the people of Yorkshire aren’t allowed to make decisions about issues that will have a huge impact on our lives.

Monica Gripaios, Hovingham

Government has its head in the sand

I AM provoked to respond to your front page of February 10, re Kevin Hollinrake’s huddle with the frackers.

Of course those opposed to the desire to despoil our countryside and to threaten the welfare of those dwelling in it, fracking for shale gas are absolutely right and I am entirely with them.

I am, however, staggered to find again an absolute silence on the fundamental reason for opposition.

Shale gas is a fossil fuel and should, therefore, never have been given a second thought.

The Government has, for far too long, hidden its head in the sand while bandying empty words with others about alternative fuels in attempts to avoid its responsibilities.

Times of grace have been wasted and there is no longer time for delays, debates, questions or arguments. The call now is for urgent and drastic action.

The changing environment is now too obvious for all to see and the first test of our sincerity is to stamp out this threat of shale gas.

We were recently thoroughly shamed by our own Prime Minister when, actually on the way to a conference on climate change, he sanctioned fracking for shale gas.

Contending with hypocrisy like this where can we hope or even begin to look for a “meeting of minds”.

Jean McKendree is correct when she states in your same issue, that “the Government is truly deep in the pockets of the gas and oil industries”.

W J Gillespie, Malton

Support for KM8 is disappointing

RE: Kevin Hollinrake MP – “Not a Cheerleader” (Gazette & Herald, February 10).

Kevin’s protestations of innocence would be much more credible if he would have the courage of his own convictions and oppose KM8 because the site is less than one mile from the village centre of Kirby Misperton.

A leaked letter dated July 7 last year, signed by three cabinet ministers and addressed to the Chancellor makes clear that the Government intends to take direct responsibility for approving large scale planning applications for the “production phase” of fracking.

In other words, once exploratory wells like the one at KM8 have proved to be viable after getting planning permission locally, we can expect blanket applications for hundreds of production sites all over the Vale of Pickering, and our local minerals planning authority will have no power to determine them. Kevin has been given a copy of the letter, and his continued support for KM8 is disappointing.

Kevin mistakenly relies on the regulatory framework, which he reckons will work much better than regulations anywhere else in the world because it’s British.

However, the primary regulatory authority is the Environment Agency, which we have all learnt to despise. It’s the Environment Agency which has for years failed to maintain our rivers, and has urged us to take down flood defences so that “the rivers can return to their natural flood plain”.

It is a Quango, a creature of Central Government which has no local accountability. The Environment Agency did absolutely nothing to prepare for the recent flooding and they are one of the primary causes of it. How stupid to trust such a useless organisation with regulating fracking.

Bring back Anne Mac – all is forgiven.

Councillor Paul Andrews, Malton Ward, Ryedale District Council

Council’s waste of nearly £2 million

I DO not know how councillors have the gall to increase rates when they have just wasted nearly £2m on a further venture that the ratepayers did not want.

They will be getting extra rates from all the new houses that have been built.

If they want to save money, now that the quarry at Thornton-le-Dale is full, start filling in the quarries at Newbridge and Spaunton, and don’t give me a lot of bull about water tables. There have been several quarries in the area filled in over the years.

I remember one up Gillamoor Road which was burning and is now a grass field.

M Hammond, Kirkbymoorside