Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
IGas has submitted a scoping request to Nottinghamshire County Council, making first steps towards shale gas exploration at a new site in the county.
The request refers to a site at Tinker Lane near Blyth, and is separate from an application made to the council to monitor groundwater across four locations near Springs Road, which was announced delayed earlier this week.
The council will review the scoping request to assess the environmental issues IGas intends to include in its Environmental Impact Assessment. It will provide the firm with a scoping opinion response within five weeks.
IGas said if it decides to submit a planning application, the development will involve exploration of the site using test drilling to check the suitability of the rock for shale gas extraction.
The firm insisted that no fracking would be undertaken as part of this application.
Nottinghamshire County Council planning manager Sally Gill said: “The submission of a scoping request could mark the first of many steps towards IGas submitting a full planning application for exploration of the Tinker Lane site.
“If a planning application is submitted for shale gas development in the future, as the local planning authority our role will be to consider how suitable the site is for any shale gas exploration. This will involve looking at how the proposals affect a range of issues such as wildlife, transport and water resources.
“The company will also have to secure separate approval from a range of other organisations including the Environment Agency, Health and Safety Executive and the Department of Energy and Climate Change to make sure the site will operate safely.
“Further separate planning applications would need to be submitted by the firm if they decided to undertake additional investigations at the site, including shale gas appraisal or extraction.”
Last week, UK Onshore Oil and Gas chief executive Ken Cronin told Utility Week that the number of fracking applications which reach the planning stage looks set to increase over the next six months after the Oil and Gas Authority confirmed that 27 onshore blocks from the 14th Onshore Oil and Gas licensing round will be formally offered to companies.
The UK government recently put in place measures to fast-track shale gas planning applications, including identifying councils which repeatedly fail to determine oil and gas applications within the 16-week statutory timeframe, with subsequent applications potentially decided by the communities secretary.
Read Utility Week’s analysis on the state of the ‘shale revolution’ here.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.