WATCHET was this week declared a ‘Frack Free Zone’ by the town council despite protests from councillors that there was “no empirical information” and that “decisions should be based on evidence and fact rather than emotion.”

The council had been asked to consider the matter by ‘Frack Free EQS’ (Exmoor, Quantocks and Sedgemoor) after a presentation by their representative, Kevin Ogilvie-White, at the council’s November meeting.

An opponent to fracking, Cllr Izzy Silvester listed many areas across the world that had banned it and said there was “a broad amount of evidence” to support that stance. She proposed the motion that Watchet be declared a “Frack Free Zone”.

An amendment from Cllr Irven, to delay a decision until the council had obtained appropriate evidence on all issues, was defeated. The main motion was carried by six in favour with two abstentions.

Full debate in the Free Press