Let's make fracking easier by increasing bureaucratic delay!

The Telegraph tells us that there will be more consultation on fracking permits:

In a development that will be welcomed by opponents of fracking, the Environment Agency (EA) said the “current level of public interest” meant that the permitting process was likely to be extended to allow for more consultation.

The Purple Scorpion points to the actual document and then comments:

"The high public interest status could mean an extremely lengthy process", says a lawyer, "taking into account a number of rounds of community consultation". "Given the current level of public interest in unconventional gas and oil exploration, it's likely that we will treat such sites as being of high public interest," the Agency said in the document on its website.

But here's what is actually meant. The Government has decided that fracking would be a good idea and wants to make it simpler and faster to gain a permit to do so. This unelected quango has decided to scupper that desire. Instead of it being "You've like a fracking licence? Here you go" they're going to insist upon lengthy public discussion periods for each and every licence. Effectively, every nutter in hte land will be encouraged to shout out the same old stale, and wrong, arguments for each and every licence.

I've said before that I'm not surprised that economic growth has slowed down in recent decades. We're issuing ever more red tape that stops people from actually being able to do anything: why be surprised when less is done?

And it doesn't bode well when a government cannot contain or control its own bureaucracy, does it?