Legal challenge over plans to expedite fracking thrown out

A town mayor’s application for a judicial review of the government’s plans to overhaul the planning regime for fracking operations has been thrown out by the High Court.

The government is considering bringing development for exploring for shale gas under permitted development. It is also consulting on bringing applications to hydraulically fracture for and produce shale gas under the remit of the Planning Inspectorate via the Planning Act 2008 regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects, effectively removing local planning authorities from the decision-making process.