A GREEN Party politician has hit out at the prospect of fracking in north-west London by a new private company.
London Local Energy has applied to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for a licence to extract shale gas in a swathe of London stretching from Harrow in the north-west corner to Westminster in the south-east boundary - an area inhabited by about 1million people across parts of nine boroughs.
Brent Council's Labour administration has similarly hit out against the technology - with the leader saying 'Fracking is a dirty word' - but its planning committee may end up having to decide whether to approve a drilling well application for Park Royal from London Local Energy.
Jenny Jones, a Green Party London Assembly Member, said: " The suggestion that London’s residents will not notice the noise and disruption of fracking trucks as it already has high levels of traffic and noise is truly insulting”
"Boris Johnson can’t just brush these off as NIMBY issues. More noise, pollution on our roads is completely unacceptable. Nor should the risks of contaminating ground water with toxic chemicals be underestimated.
"At a time when current trends mean that we are on course for a catastrophic 4 degree temperature increase, our priority must be switching to renewables such as solar/wind and getting serious about energy conservation.
"Exploiting even more fossil fuels such as fracked oil or gas that can only accelerate global warming just isn’t an option."
