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Cherwell or Fracking Well?

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EPA-Fracking-may-cause-groundwater-pollution-TMMF9OP-x-largeHydraulic Fracturing or ‘Fracking’ is a new unconventional and controversial technique for extracting gas and in some case oil from the deep bedrock.  It has serious environmental and quality of life issues for all of us, but particularly for those of us who live in areas that sit on top of these deposits.  Unfortunately for us, that included large areas of North Oxford and Cherwell.

Fracking has been sold as being the answer to the UK’s energy problems, but in areas like the USA where it’s been widely used, this has not been proved to be the case.  What has been shown is that it contaminates water supplies and creates huge amounts of noise and disruption for local residents.  It’s also been implicated as the cause land movements and in some cases actual earthquakes.  Indeed when the first test drill was sunk in the UK near Blackpool, they experienced one of the strongest earth tremors recorded in the area in decades.

The main process involves drilling large bore holes, often sideways underneath properties not owned by the drilling companies (as right that has now been granted to them by the government) and pumping a cocktail of water and up to 90 different chemicals, many of them highly toxic, into the ground under immense pressure.  This cracks the rock and releases trapped gas.  The water is then recycled back into the normal water system where it’s treated and used again.  That is apart from the water that leaks into local water courses and along with some of chemicals and the gas.

If you want to see how this process affects local people watch the film Gasland and Gasland 2, clips of which are available on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8

Another main method is something called underground coal gasification, which involved drilling into coal seams and then setting them alight.  The controlled burn then generates coal gas which is extracted.  This process is often hard to control and becomes every bit as horrific as it sounds.  This is the type of extraction that we could see being used in areas like Bloxham which sits on large coal deposits.

A national pressure group has also been set up called ‘Frack Off’.  They recently released a short video that explains what we may see in our area if fracking is allowed to go ahead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYniYtJEeeI

government’s presumption against fracking in designated areas, such as national parks, goes to show that the Coalition recognises that hydraulic fracking will harm the environment and presents significant risks.

The Green Party calls on the government to offer all communities the same protection from dirty and dangerous fracking and shift energy policy focus instead towards clean, renewable energy sources and energy conservation.

The latest bidding process for licenses to extract shale gas from large parts of the UK is under way.  The government is also proposing to pay large amounts of money to local councils that support fracking, regardless of local residents wishes.

About half the UK is open to exploration, but tightened rules cover areas of outstanding beauty and large areas of Cherwell. The Green Party is the only mainstream political party fighting to stop fracking being pushed through by a government which consistently puts corporate profit over people.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

“While the Government has signalled an intention to ensure some protective measures, we can have little confidence in promises of a robust regulatory framework.

“We know fracking can cause water contamination and shortages, as well as air and soil pollution. And this is an industry that’s made a catalogue of errors already. But legitimate concerns over its very real environmental and health risks are falling on deaf ears.

“By seeking to lock us ever-more firmly into fossil fuel dependence the Government is turning a blind eye to reason. It’s crystal clear that we need to be shifting to clean, renewable energy sources.

“We need a rapid shift to a zero carbon economy and that is not going to happen by pouring resources into establishing an entirely new fossil fuel industry.”

As your MP I would fight tooth and nail to prevent our wonderful communities and countryside from being torn apart by this ‘bottom of the barrel’ technology.  The Green Party is the only major party standing up against these proposals and we need support of local communities to help us stop these wells from being set up before it’s too late.  Once the process is begun we may all live to regret the fact that we didn’t stand up to be counted when we had the chance.

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Save Banbury’s Phone Box Library!

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Who’d have thought that a small but effective local community initiative in an Oxfordshire town would attract such global attention?  The Banbury Phone Box Library is one such brilliant piece of local engagement which is now garnering international attention as BT looks towards chopping it off at the knees.

The red phone box is almost as iconic as the red bus as a national symbol of Britain around the world.  You’d think if you were company who owns and operates these highly visible pieces of cultural capital you’d be only too pleased to see them being involved in well supported local campaigns that add value to a service that is perhaps not as loved as it once was.

In that context it seems daft to me that BT are hell bent on annoying small and large communities across the country by removing public call boxes where they’re valued for numerous reasons other than a quick natter on the phone.  It’s even more self-defeating that they’re erasing some of the very symbols of Britishness that have helped them build a world class multi-national company.

It has to be said that the Town Council in Banbury share some of the potential blame if the box is removed, as they are refusing to adopt it (something that BT now allow for the princely sum of £1), if BT go ahead with plans to decommission the phone service in the box.  Previously they struck a deal with BT to adopt the box and save the library and a local steel fabrication firm offered to fix permanent shelves in the box to house the books to assuage BT’s prior objections to the library service on health and safety grounds, as they believed the current shelving arrangements could be dangerous.

BT now claims that it is uneconomic for them to continue to run the service anyway, even though I understand thousands of calls were made from it last year.

The under-story seems to be that BT want out of the call box game at any cost, and most of that cost will be borne by local communities using the boxes for a number of vital social services or simply to make a call when other options are not available to them.

Banbury Town Council now say that they’re not prepared to adopt the box if it is then decommissioned by BT.  Whilst I support taking a stance against the loss of the phone service, I think it would be a sad loss to the community of the box were to be removed as a result of the Town Council refusing to adopt the box itself.

Moreover, If BT are claiming the box is loss making, I think it would be useful for them to provide the figures backing that up. It would at least give us an idea of the likely shortfall which could perhaps be covered in some other way.

It’s also crazy that BT are missing this as an opportunity for some very positive PR. It has to be said that they’re not universally loved as a company, so something like this, that is fairly minimal in cost terms, would seem to be a great way for them to connect with the community.

Going forward perhaps the government needs to bring in a legal requirement on telecoms companies like this to provide a certain number of public call points in an area. Just because most of us carry mobiles now, doesn’t mean that sometimes they might not fail at a vital time, or have been forgotten when they’re most needed.  I know BT used to be obliged to seek permission from local or parish councils in order to remove a box, but it sounds like that requirement has now been watered down.  In very rural areas mobile phone reception is also notoriously patchy.  In those areas call boxes provide a vital service for emergency calls.

In terms of usage statistics, it might also be interesting to track the number of calls made against the minimum price of a call in a phone box, which I understand is now 60p. Perhaps BT need to be reminded of the law of supply and demand.

If you’re on Twitter you can follow and support the campaign to save the Banbury Phone Box Library by following the hashtag