FOLLOWING the report in your recent edition entitled ‘Have Your Say on Fracking’ about licence areas for oil or gas resources, I thought it would be useful for your readers to be aware of two key facts which may not have been clear from the article.

The consultation is being carried out by the national Oil and Gas Authority (OGA). Hampshire County Council is not involved in the consultation, or the licensing process.

The OGA licence areas show where, geologically, there are known sources of oil or gas.

The licenses themselves do not give any indication of where there is permission to extract resources.

The county council’s role is as the minerals and waste planning authority only. This means that, in the event that an oil or gas development is proposed within a licence area which HCC administers, then a planning application would be submitted to us. This would then be considered against the policies within the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Plan (which can be viewed at: hants.gov.

uk/mineralsandwaste/planning- policy-home).

Finally, to be clear, HCC has not received, or is aware of any intention to submit, a planning application for shale oil or gas extraction within its administrative boundary.

Cllr Sean Woodward, Executive member for economy, transport and environment, Hampshire County Council.