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Anti-fracking groups protest as council mulls over shale gas drilling Conservationists deal last-minute blow to 'unlawful' fracking bid
(about 3 hours later)
Anti-fracking campaigners are protesting outside a town hall where councillors are deciding whether to approve plans to open a UK shale gas exploration frontier in the east Midlands. A bid to open a new fracking frontier in the east Midlands has been dealt a blow after a last-minute intervention by conservationists who warned that it was unlawful and would harm an “incredibly important” nature reserve.
Nottinghamshire county council will vote on Wednesday on iGas Energy’s plans to drill two wells on a former RAF bombing range in the village of Misson. They would be the first shale gas wells in the area to be given the green light for exploratory drilling. Energy firm iGas had sought planning permission to drill two wells to explore for shale gas at a former Ministry of Defence missile launchpad known as the Rocket Site in Misson, north Nottinghamshire.
The iGas applications do not involve fracking, but the energy firm has indicated it would apply to frack the wells if the drilling results are positive. But lawyers for Friends of the Earth told councillors on Wednesday that they would be “authorising the commission of illegal acts” if they gave the green light to the scheme on the protected fenland, which is home to rare species including long-eared owls and lichens.
The Nottinghamshire decision is significant because no fracking has taken place in the UK since 2011, when Cuadrilla caused earth tremors trying to frack a vertical well near Blackpool. The 11th-hour intervention came during a make-or-break week for fracking in the UK and could have significant ramifications for future shale gas explorations near protected areas.
This year Third Energy was granted planning permission to frack a vertical well it had already drilled in North Yorkshire, but it has been unable to proceed pending a judicial review. The Nottinghamshire proposal would mark the first shale gas well to be given the green light for exploratory drilling in the UK. The iGas applications do not involve fracking but the energy firm has indicated it would apply to frack the wells if the drilling results are positive.
Dozens of campaigners picketed the council meeting at Nottinghamshire county hall on Wednesday, carrying placards and banners that read “Keep it in the ground”. The latest decision was seen as significant because no fracking has taken place in the UK since 2011, when Cuadrilla caused earth tremors trying to frack a vertical well near Blackpool.
Councillors were told there had been 493 objections from people who live near the proposed drilling site and 1,800 from the wider Nottinghamshire area. Earlier this year, Third Energy was granted planning permission to frack a vertical well it had already drilled in North Yorkshire but it has been unable to proceed pending a judicial review.
The council’s planning officer, Jonathan Smith, has recommended that councillors approve the exploratory work, set to take place 125 metres from a nature reserve designated as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). Sajid Javid, the secretary of state for communities and local government, is due to decide on Thursday whether to approve Cuadrilla’s plans to use hydraulic fracking in Lancashire after local councillors rejected them.
Yet the plan has met fierce opposition locally. Jayne Watson, from Misson parish council, told councillors on Wednesday that it would have a “significant adverse effect” on the local area, which she said already suffered noise pollution due to flights every eight minutes to and from Robin Hood airport. Councillors in Nottinghamshire deferred making a decision on the iGas application until 15 November to allow them time to receive “definitive legal advice” on the Friends of the Earth intervention.
Misson would become “a village that would be trapped by two heavy industrial sites – it would be hemmed in” if councillors gave the go-ahead, she said. A letter is understood to have been sent by email to the council’s planning officer Jonathan Smith and lawyers for iGas at 1.30pm on Wednesday, but it only emerged at 3.40pm – just as councillors were due to begin their debate and vote.
Brian Davey, of the campaigning group Frack Free Notts, told councillors that if they voted to approve the plans they were “committing genocide on future generations” and they would have to explain to their grandchildren why they did it. The delay was welcomed by some councillors. Jayne Watson, from Misson parish council, described the intervention as “potentially a gamechanger” that could halt the scheme for good.
“It would be passing something which has grave implications for their future,” he said. She said: “It was a very dramatic last-minute decision. I think some people have said they wish there had been a decision today [on whether to approve the scheme] but it’s a new piece of information that’s definitely significant and due consideration needs to be given to that.”
That was met with a furious response from Stan Heptinstall, a Liberal Democrat councillor and former professor at the University of Nottingham, who said that to be accused of “damning” his nine grandchildren was “very hurtful”. Earlier, Watson told councillors that the scheme would have a significant adverse effect on the local area, whose residents were overwhelmingly against it.
“It really hurts me,” he said. “We’re here to look at a particular planning application in a particular way … as the chairman pointed out this planning application is for exploratory work. It is nothing to do with fracking.” The committee meeting, which was picketed by anti-fracking campaigners, heard that there had been 493 objections from people who live near the proposed drilling site and 1,800 from the wider area.
Janice Bradley, head of conservation for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, told councillors that the exploratory work would cause harm to “extremely sensitive and rare species”, including long-eared owls. Many of the concerns centre on the fact that the drills would be taking place 125 metres from a protected nature reserve designated as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
The trust, which owns the adjacent nature reserve, is considering bringing legal action against iGas to try to block the scheme. In the letter, which the Guardian has seen, lawyers for Friends of the Earth said an obscure legal covenant from 1969 would make approving the scheme unlawful. The conservation group said it meant the application should be refused.
It has raised concerns about the drilling noise and effects on water and nitrogen levels in the area and has asked iGas to provide it with assurances that its activities would not breach a 1969 legal covenant preventing “noisy, noxious or damaging activity”. Smith had recommended that councillors approve the 3,500-metre wells. But Janice Bradley, head of conservation for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, told councillors that the exploratory work would cause harm to “extremely sensitive and rare species”, including long-eared owls.
Simon Gledhill, from the Misson community action group, raised concerns about the potential for unexploded ordinance on the former bombing range, which was used by the RAF from the late 1930s to the late 1950s. Simon Gledhill, from the Misson community action group, raised concerns about potentially unexploded ordnance on the former bombing range, which was used by the RAF from the late 1930s to the late 1950s.
The Ministry of Defence had admitted that it had “no clue” how many unexploded bombs were present on the site, Gledhill said, adding that farmworkers regularly dug them up. The Ministry of Defence had said it did not know how many unexploded bombs were on the site, Gledhill said, adding that farmworkers regularly dug them up.
“iGas has got a number of places it could conduct these activities,” he told councillors. “Would you choose to drill and cause ground-borne vibrations in a place where you know that people have dropped bombs? Would you put at risk people, not just in the village, but staff and contractors? Why would anyone do that?”“iGas has got a number of places it could conduct these activities,” he told councillors. “Would you choose to drill and cause ground-borne vibrations in a place where you know that people have dropped bombs? Would you put at risk people, not just in the village, but staff and contractors? Why would anyone do that?”
Smith, the planning officer, said Natural England had not raised concerns about any potentially harmful impact on local wildlife, and no unexploded ordinance had been found by iGas during an early survey of the land. Brian Davey, of the campaigning group Frack Free Notts, told councillors that if they voted to approve the plans they were “committing genocide on future generations” and they “would have to explain to your grandchildren why you did it”.
It is a make-or-break week for fracking in the UK. Sajid Javid, the secretary of state for communities and local government, is due to decide on Thursday whether to approve Cuadrilla’s plans to use hydraulic fracking in Lancashire, after it was rejected by local councillors. The accusation got a furious response from Stan Heptinstall, a Liberal Democrat councillor and former professor at the University of Nottingham, who said: “It really hurts me. We’re here to look at a particular planning application in a particular way … as the chairman pointed out this planning application is for exploratory work. It is nothing to do with fracking.”
Liz Yates, the councillor for the Misterton ward which includes the proposed drill site, welcomed the intervention by Friends of the Earth. “It was unexpected but I think they’ve done the right thing because it shows that they are giving it the consideration that it needs,” she said.
“The residents that are more clued up will appreciate the delay so that proper consideration is being given but there will be others who think it seems to be dragging on.”
Friends of the Earth’s Jake White said: “We are delighted that our legal intervention has led the council to look more carefully at iGas’s shale gas application. The legal implications of granting planning permission in this case would be particularly serious and we are delighted for our clients Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust as well as for the whole community that these points will be looked at properly at last.”
iGas did not comment outside the council chamber.