Fracking is a classic reason why England needs Regional Devolution (Part One)

Imagine the scene- walking down the high street, enjoying a bit of retail therapy when you get approached by some dude conducting a survey on Fracking of all things.  Despite emerging as a very divisive issue in recent years, there are still a fair number of people throughout the North West of England who are not aware of what fracking actually is.  An Opinion Poll conducted for a regional television news programme does illustrate this; also that more people in the region now support fracking than not.  This method of creating cracks in rocks to extract Gas has been used in parts of the United States for many years.  Now we have companies in the North West of England undertaking exploratory work to establish what potential lies this side of the pond.

On balance, I feel that fracking could be good for the local economy.  But I do say a silent yes in principle at this point, with a note of caution to take on board environmental concerns.  I am open minded that I could switch my viewpoint to the other side of the fence at any moment.  Regardless of what I think and may think in the future on fracking, what this issue does highlight is that English Regions do need to have stronger voices.  I expressed my viewpoint in my post on 1 November 2013 that regardless of the outcome of next year's referendum in Scotland on Independence, that England's interest would be better served by the introduction of Regional Assemblies and for the Westminster Parliament to be cut in numbers.

With Fracking, the potential benefits in terms of job creation will be local communities within the North West of England, or any other English region for that matter.  But on the downside, any negatives such as pollution and general environmental risk will also be most felt at a local level.  CONSEQUENTLY, IT DOES NOT MATTER IF WE ARE TALKING ABOUT DAVID CAMERON AND HIS CON-DEM COALITION OR AN ED MILLIBAND LED LABOUR GOVERNMENT.  A National Government sitting in London (which is too detached from the North West) is not best placed to balance the competing industrial and environmental interests; a Regional Administration would be better placed to be accountable for what is in almost every aspect, a more local issue.