Dear John

I’ve got some huge news for you.

The government has ditched fracking!

It has just announced an end to their support for fracking in England, conceding to years of hard-fought campaigning from local communities, ourselves and other environmental groups.

This amounts to an effective ban on fracking in the UK.

Public pressure has paid off.  And we have you - and thousands of others - to thank.

Whether you were one of the amazing 200,000 people who signed our petition to stop fast-tracked fracking, or you wrote one of thousands of letters to MPs and local councillors, or generously donated to our campaign, you played a key part in achieving this fantastic result.

This is no small feat, and was achieved in the face of fierce lobbying by the fracking industry. They have been pushing government to introduce weaker regulations to make it easier to frack.

But, in the end, people power and common sense prevailed.

This win shows that when we come together in huge numbers, we can have real and lasting impact.

We’ve posted the good news on social media. Can you share it so even more people know about it?

Fracking was never a good idea. Its large-scale adoption could have industrialised our countryside, pushed communities out of decision-making, and worsened the climate crisis. And it carried the risk of causing earthquakes near where people live.

We’ve been challenging the government over the multitude of risks it carries – and finally, our messages have been heard.

Time will tell how this plays out and we will need to keep on our toes, but today we can celebrate seeing the back of the fracking industry in England.  

The government must now focus on new policies to tackle the climate crisis, from investing in renewables and sustainable public transport, to improving the energy efficiency of our homes and restoring nature to remove carbon emissions from the air.

This is a significant win for local democracy, our environment and our beautiful countryside that we all love so much.

Our fracking campaign was built on the generous support of people like you. Please donate now to help us achieve more campaign successes like this, and to work towards a thriving, beautiful countryside for us all to enjoy.

I hope we win many more campaigns for our countryside, together.

Sam Keyte

Campaigns Lead | CPRE The countryside charity