Barbara is demanding answers from Government Ministers about a report on the impacts of fracking which contains 58 areas where information has been redacted. The report on the impacts of Shale Gas by the Environment Department has a summary page with 10 redactions and the section on Social Impacts of Shale Gas has a long list of 16 redactions where the evidence on impacts should be.

The report has been ridiculed because of the large amount of information it leaves out, most of it about impacts and areas of concern.

Barbara said:

“People in my constituency have already felt a number of the negative impacts caused by exploratory drilling for shale gas at the Barton Moss site. Some residents told me how their business was being hit and they had to lay off staff and other residents told me they were unable to sell their home.

“There is already an issue of compensation for these negative impacts which the Government has ignored. The shale gas company has so far said it will not be making compensation payments to residents specifically affected by their operations. My constituents deserve to know what information the Government is withholding in this report on the economic impacts of shale gas and I will be pressing the Conservative-led Government to release the information.”

The Government report “Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts” by a DEFRA Policy Unit was released under Freedom of Information and can be seen here.