Herefordshire Councillors voted unanimously, bar one abstention, to oppose fracking in the County’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, at their meeting on Friday, December 16th.

At the meeting, Kerne Bridge Ward Councillor Paul Newman OBE pushed for the County Council to consider the risks of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a process where liquid is injected at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, et cetera, to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas.

He argued that it would have a detrimental impact on the tourism industry in Herefordshire. Cllr Newman put forward the motion that Councillors ask the Government to consider withholding any licence which would allow fracking, or any associated hydrocarbon extraction processes, in Herefordshire’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

In August 2015, a licence for Fracking in Kerne Bridge was proposed, within the Habitats Regulations Assessment 14th Onshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round, block SO51.

Kerne Bridge sits in Herefordshire’s Wye Valley AONB. The River Wye itself is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and the area is a European Special Area of Conservation and there is a protected groundwater aquifer under Ross-on-Wye.

Cllr Newman said: “This licensed area, focused on my ward, is a precious landscape and environmental asset. Given the clear risks of fracking, it seems to me to be, frankly madness for the government to place some of Herefordshire’s most precious assets directly in the front line.

“The AONB area of Kerne Bridge is a key asset to our “Brand Herefordshire”, packed with tourist business and jobs, clustered around nationally important sites such Goodrich Castle, Symonds Yat, and the river Wye itself.

“The Government needs to take more care in considering special circumstances, in our case our special and nationally important landscape assets and our precious tourism income, jobs and livelihoods. Something has to be wrong when a triple protected tourism icon is placed right in the front line.”