A CLAIM that anti-fracking protests were a factor in persuading Forest councillors to line up against “unconventional” fuels have been dismissed. 

The council has backed a report which says fracking in the Forest could have a serious impact on the local environment. 

Cllr Sid Phelps (Green, Lydbrook and Ruardean) asked if the council would have been so decisively against fracking had it not been for protests. 

He said: “I want to thank the demonstrators, all the people who have been out shouting and protesting because one wonders what the view of the council would have been without that.   

“Never say public dissent doesn’t change anything.” 

But Cllr Roger James (Lab, Coleford  East), who was chair of a council inquiry into fracking rejected that interpretation.   

He said: “In October 2015 this council voted unanimously against fracking and therefore the demonstrators were kicking at an open door.   

“The council did not need to be convinced.” 

Cllr James said although two bids for drilling for “unconventional fuels” in the Forest had been withdrawn, the council needed a strong policy on the issue.   

If an application to frack in the district was to be made, it would be decided by Gloucestershire County Council but the Forest Council would be asked for its view. 

Cllr James said: “While the council’s powers are limited as a statutory consultee there are a number of risks to district landscapes, ecology, geology and hydrology.”

Leader of the council, Cllr Patrick Molyneux (Con, Woolaston and Hewelsfield) backed the report. 

He said: “We need to set the bar as high as we possibly can against any sort of unconventional extraction.   

“We need to wary and on our guard for this sort of unconventional drilling.”

Cllr Graham Morgan (Lab, Cinderford West) said fracking should not be allowed in the Forest because of the complex geology of the area. 

He said in the early 1970s when the well at Clearwell dropped, test dyes were put into the water system at Buckshaft near Cinderford. 

“They didn’t go to the river, they found their way to Clearwell which gives an idea of the water flows in the Forest of Dean   

“Fracking should not be anywhere near here and the whole area should be a groundwater protection zone.”