rejection? Gas, Oil or a Claim., page-2

Darwin, I wholeheartedly agree that this is "an approval disguised as a rejection." The fact is that the issues raised by the planners are easily overcome according to Francis Egan.

"Cuadrilla CEO Francis Egan said he believed further discussions with officers could see traffic levels and noise reduced to an acceptable level......It is a relatively low noise but it is not clear from the 
officer report what level they expect we should get to. If we know what the level is, I’m sure we can work out how to get there. It’s entirely reasonable that the council be expected to protect properties, but it is also entirely reasonable for us to be told what level (of noise) is acceptable."

What should we make of this situation? The planners have said they're okay with fracking but then turned around and set arbitrary standards on noise without notifying Cuadrilla. Seems like they just needed a reason to flunk the application - as it could have just as easily been a "yes" with conditions (on noise and traffic).

Did the planners take this route as a smart way to avoid local condemnation while giving a tacit approval? They have passed on their recommendation which leaves the door open to the Development committee approving the application if conditions are met. The planners look like heroes to the Greens. At the same time, the Development committee won't take as much heat if they approve because now they can hide behind the planners who gave a green light if traffic and noise conditions are resolved favorably. If the application is approved, the Dev Committee can point its finger at the planners, and the planners have already been heralded as heroes by the Greens. It's a rather twisted theory, but it has some merit.

On the other hand, you could argue that the planners have basically shown through the irrationality of their demands that there is no chance any application is going to be passed at the local level. By offering a recommendation that is clearly deficient they are essentially passing the buck to an appeal/judicial review which ought to immediately see how irrational the recommendation is, and approve the project.

Regardless of the direction of the decision, it is going to be appealed by one side. So, I don't even know if we can consider this a delay. An outright approval would have resulted in the same outcome from a timing perspective.