The potentially massive impact of fracking on house prices was revealed yesterday – with one woman saying the value of her home has been cut by £535,000.
Dianne Westgarth told how the price of her five-bedroom house had plummeted by over 70 per cent as a result of a proposed fracking site nearby.
In 2012, the property – which comes with two-and-a-half acres of land – was valued at £725,000.
‘The new valuation came in at £190,000,’ she said. ‘Two other estate agents said they would rather not even comment, because the possibility of fracking meant they couldn’t actually say if it was worth anything at all.’
‘Fracking is not widespread yet but if a new site had a knock-on effect on the value of the house then it could also affect the council tax banding.’
Supporters of shale drilling claim it could revolutionise Britain’s energy supply, with trillions of cubic feet of gas said to lie beneath Lancashire.
But the detrimental effect experienced by Mrs Westgarth has been echoed elsewhere.
James Nisbet, who lives near another potential drilling site near Blackpool, said a would-be purchaser pulled out of buying his £375,000 house after hearing about the plan.
The revelations come just weeks after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was accused of a fracking ‘cover-up’ after it censored a key report on the topic no less than 63 times in 13 pages.
The chapter examining the effect of drilling on house prices had three sections redacted – although it did acknowledge a study which found the value of properties near a well in Texas had fallen by up to 14 per cent.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2733336/Fracking-threat-wiped-535-000-home-s-value-Five-bedroom-home-valued-190-000-drilling-site-proposed-nearby.html
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