Business of the House

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 10:58 pm on 2 November 2017.

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Photo of Justin Madders Justin Madders Shadow Minister (Health) 10:58, 2 November 2017

Indeed.

A number of planning applications for fracking have recently been submitted in my constituency, causing much consternation locally. That has not been helped by a local political group arguing that councils should determine those applications by way of a local referendum. As the Leader of the House knows, that would be a deeply irresponsible move. Not only would such a decision not be effective, but it could leave a council open to a costly legal challenge. May we have a debate on the precise discretion that is available to councils to consider such controversial planning applications?