Democracy and Fracking

I must admit that I share many of the reservations expressed by John Ashton (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/fracking-england-tories-lancashire-council-government) about the imposition of fracking on areas of England (Scotland and Wales have declined the technology) against the expressed wishes of the local populations. I personally cannot see fracking as any kind of answer to the problem of climate change and find it extraordinary that local democratic mechanisms are being dismantled to facilitate its take-up.