Consultation outcome

Inclusion of shale gas production projects in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime

• From: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
• Published: 19 July 2018
• Last updated: 4 November 2019 — See all updates

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Inclusion of shale gas production in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime: government response

PDF, 319 KB, 14 pages

Detail of outcome

The consultation identified a lack of support for the inclusion of shale gas production in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime. There was no consensus on what including shale gas production in the NSIP regime would look like in practice, or under what circumstances it would be appropriate.

It is our view that, while the UK shale gas industry remains at an early exploratory stage, including the production phase into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime would be premature.

Government has made clear in a separate Written Ministerial Statement that, on the basis of the current scientific evidence, and in the absence of compelling new evidence, it has taken a presumption against issuing any further hydraulic fracturing consents.

Detail of feedback received

There were 2369 responses to the consultation.

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Original consultation

Summary

This early stage consultation is to determine which criteria would be appropriate to trigger inclusion of major shale gas production projects in the NSIP regime.

This consultation ran from
9:30am on 19 July 2018 to 11:45pm on 25 October 2018

Consultation description

This initial consultation is intended to gather views from industry, regulators and other interested parties on the timings and criteria for including shale gas production projects in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime under the Planning Act 2008.

We encourage responses to this consultation from the following in particular:

• onshore oil and gas operators with an interest in developing shale gas production sites
• anyone conducting research or providing advisory services relating to the exploration and development of shale gas resources
• industry bodies, groups or individuals with an interest in the production of onshore shale gas
• regulators dealing with the use, management and protection of onshore shale gas resources
• planning authorities responsible for plan-making and decision taking in relation to planning applications for shale gas projects

Documents

Inclusion of shale gas production projects in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime

PDF, 753 KB, 24 pages

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Published 19 July 2018
Last updated 4 November 2019 + show all updates

1. 4 November 2019

   Government response published.

2. 19 July 2018

   First published.