The Yorkshire Party supports a ban on High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) for Shale Gas throughout Yorkshire.

The evidence from worldwide sources shows that high volumes of water will be required for this process and end up contaminated by heavy metals and other dangerous chemicals.

There is risk of public water supplies being polluted when the drilling process passes through natural aquifers. Over time, the leaking wells caused by concrete deterioration will compromise the water supply for future generations. Fracking will also cause air and noise pollution; large numbers of HGV movements on mainly rural roads; and the possibility of earthquakes.

Fracking will require thousands of wells on hundreds of sites resulting in industrialisation of the Yorkshire countryside. Fracking is a relatively short-term industry resulting in long term despoliation of our countryside affecting farming and tourism in particular.

We believe it makes no sense at all for the UK government to be promoting the development of a new fossil fuel industry having signed up to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

We recognise that Yorkshire is a significant energy producer within the UK and has an important manufacturing sector. We want to see the development of an energy policy for Yorkshire that has at its core an ambitious target of renewable energy use and an innovative programme of low carbon technology use.