The Prime Minister’s plans to share profits of shale gas with householders could help house deals, say some agents – but others are less sure.

Theresa May announced that she has changed proposals for a fund to benefit local communities from fracking.

Residents could now benefit from the 10% of tax revenues derived from shale gas exploration in their areas as well as community trusts and local authorities.

Sam Newsham, marketing adviser at Farrell Heyworth in the Lancashire town of Poulton-le-Fylde, near where firms are hoping to frack, said the move would have a positive effect on house prices, bringing more jobs and people to areas.

UK energy company Caudrilla, which has plans to frack in Lancashire and West Sussex – and is currently awaiting for the Secretary of State to decide on two planning appeals for it to frack in Lancashire – pointed to research done by consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle released in March last year, which suggested house prices were not negatively affected by fracking.

The company said the Government’s fund to share the profit from shale gas “could deliver up to £1bn of investment in local communities hosting shale gas developments over the next 25 years”.

But in contrast to this, environmental charity Greenpeace also released in May last year findings from a survey it had commissioned from marketing research agency Redshift, which found property dealers in fracking areas were concerned the process would cause a drop in house prices.

The survey of 60 estate agents in the main areas where energy companies are planning to carry out fracking – West Sussex, Manchester and Lancashire – found 67% believed fracking could bring down house prices and 54% said they were concerned it would do so.

Paul Bonett, director of Bonett’s Estate Agent in Sussex, told EYE he did not believe the government’s sharing profits with householders would work.

“It’s very short-termist,” he said. “I don’t think it will work at all.

“There’s a very strong anti-fracking movement in the UK and those properties [in fracking areas] will not be easily sold, even if people can buy them cheaply.

“The Government won’t want to compensate people fully. It’s like putting a sticking plaster over a huge issue.”

The Government believes the Shale Wealth Fund could deliver up to £10m per eligible community.

Plans for it were first announced in last year’s autumn statement, when it was proposed that community trusts and councils receive 10% of tax profits.

Fracking facts
No operator is currently fracking in the UK. The last site that was fracked onshore in the UK was in 2011.
The practice was temporarily banned in the UK after Caudrilla caused two minor earth tremors in Blackpool in 2011.
The ban was lifted in late 2012 but no fracking has taken place since.
North Yorkshire county councillors approved the first fracking application for five years in May this year.
Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth and directing high-pressure water on to rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure to allow the gas to flow out of the head of the well.
It is controversial because of environmental concerns over using huge amounts of water and possibly releasing chemicals in the air. There are also fears it causes small earth tremors.