Don't let the government remove democracy over fracking

My letter to York City Council leaders relating to the proposed changes to planning law to make exploratory drilling the same as putting up a garden shed and fracking nationally important.  Both remove local control over the process.

It is based on a letter you can send via CPRE

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As my local council leader, I am contacting you to express my concern about the government consultations launched recently that aim to speed up the planning process for shale gas extraction in England.

The consultations seem to have been deliberately timed so that there will be very few full council meetings across the country where they can be discussed.  For instance the next meeting of York Council is two days after the end of the consultation.

Under the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) the government is intending to treat non-hydraulic exploratory drilling for shale gas as permitted development (PD).  This would preclude any  democratic oversight as permitted development does not come to the council.  As can be seen at exploratory sites fracking is on a different scale to other permitted developments and what other permitted development required approval by several regulatory authorities.  This is quite clearly an undermining of local democracy.

At the other end of the process they want to include shale gas extraction in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Regime (NSIP).

There is a clear contradiction here.  The first part is said to be too small to be covered by planning permission, the extraction process to large to be addressed locally.  It  would effectively reduce local input all the way through the planning process for fracking, from exploration to production. For further detail, please find a short briefing below.

Planning is at the core of local democracy, and is currently one of the only channels through which local people like me can have a say on what happens in our local area. In that spirit, I urge you to raise my concerns with our MPs.

Further, please submit a local council response to the consultations, specifically calling on the government to drop the PD and NSIP proposals.

The issue of shale gas extraction has led to local people across the country engaging in the planning process on scales rarely seen before, and so I believe the channels through which they can engage should not be removed.

I believe that given the risks posed to our countryside, and the strength of opposition, that there should be greater - not less - scrutiny on decisions surrounding fracking.  I am campaigning with CPRE to see that these proposals are dropped.

Yours sincerely

Tom
Tom Franklin

Capital punishment - Joint open letter to Julian Sturdy and Rachel Maskell MPs

Dear Julian Sturdy / Rachael Maskell,

We are writing to express our deep shock and concern over the actions of Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, and Prime Minister Theresa May in relation to El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey.

Let us first make clear that we consider the crimes which El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey have been accused of are absolutely abhorrent and we totally condemn what they are alleged to have done.

As you are no doubt aware Sajid Javid has written to the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions stating that “I am of the view that there are strong reasons for not requiring a death penalty assurance in this specific case, so no such assurances will be sought.”[1]  This is a clear departure from existing UK policy, which had been to require such assurances as the death penalty has been abolished under UK law, and is outlawed by the European Convention on Human Rights.[2]

We call upon you to:

• Write to Sajid Javid condemning this change of policy, and demanding that he refuses any support for the extradition or trial of El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey unless, and until, he receives assurances that they will not be subject to the death penalty
• Write to the Prime Minister demanding that parliament be given a say before there is any change of policy relating to the death penalty, including supporting extradition or trials without assurances that accused people will not be subject to the death penalty
• Issue a statement condemning the government’s support for the death penalty

Yours sincerely.

Tom Franklin, Dave Taylor, York Green Party

Ian Buchanan, Secretary York Amnesty International

Emilie Knight, Matt Elliot, Clare Harrison, York for Europe

Janet Beattie

Steve Roskams

Sally Brooks

Mick Phythian

Gwen Vardigans

Jonathan Tyler

Graham Martin

Rosie Baker

Margot Brown

Nicola Normandale

[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/22/uk-drops-death-penalty-guantanamo-opposition-opens-door-execution/

[2] European convention on Human Rights Protocol 6 Article 1 reads “The death penalty shall be abolished. No one shall be condemned to such penalty or executed.”

Capital punishment - open letter to Julian Sturdy

Dear Julian,

I am shocked that Sajid Javid has taken it upon himself, without consulting parliament, to end the UK’s ban on the use of the death penalty or supporting the death penalty elsewhere.

As I am sure you are aware by now, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey are currently being detained with the likelihood that they will be sent to face trial in the US for their heinous crimes. For many many years the UK government and the Home Office have refused to be complicit in the use of the death penalty, and have required assurances that the death penalty will not be imposed on anyone extradited from the UK even where the crime is a capital crime in the country they are being extradited to.

Sajid Javid seems to have taken it upon himself, without reference to parliament, to change this policy.

I find this appalling not only because the death penalty should never be used, and has been abolished in this country, but also because it seriously undermines the role of parliament.

I am therefore writing to ask you to:

• Write to Sajid Javid condemning this change of policy
• Write to the Prime Minister demanding that parliament be given a say in any such change in  policy
• Issue a statement condemning the government’s support for the death penalty

Yours sincerely

Tom.

Tom Franklin

Complaint of bias in BBC

3 July 2018

On World at One today we only heard from Tory politicians on the issue of Brexit.  Most of the time was taken up with one extremely hard brexit  backbench MP who represents a small group of MPs.

We did not hear from any party other than the Tories.
We did not hear from any remain MPs
We did not hear any real challenges of Rees-Mogg's position.

This is part of a huge trend where we here mostly brexit speakers and increasingly rarely from politicians who are not Tory.

While it is more extreme in World of One today we are increasingly seeing alternative (to hard right Tory Brexit) squeezed out of the BBC.

There was absolutely no balance today.