Shropshire Star

Government to rule on Shropshire gas drilling plans

Controversial gas drilling plans for Shropshire will be decided on by a Government inspector – after an energy firm lost patience with councillors.

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Dart Energy is to hear directly from planning inspectors whether its plan to drill a single coal bed methane exploratory borehole in Dudleston, near Ellesmere, have been approved.

Shropshire Council's north planning committee had said it was minded to refuse the plans at its meeting in October, leading to the council to ask the firm to provide more information about the scheme.

Yellowbelly in his hut inside the camp

Members of a campaign group that has set up camp on the site of the proposed drilling site today said they don't believe any decision will be made until after the general election in May.

But they say they will continue to live at "Castle Dudleston" until the end of the battle – saying that the site is seen as the gateway to the unconventional gas industry in Shropshire.

Earlier this week security staff working at another proposed drilling site at Borras, Wrexham, pulled out of the area.

Protesters at Castle Duddleston say that the move there is an indication that the gas drilling industry is losing the will to fight for the right to move the operation onto sites in our region.

One of the "protectors" now living at Castle Dudleston is known only as Yellowbelly.

He has been forced to put up with sub-zero temperatures at the camp last week, but says the hardship he faces is no sacrifice if it goes some way to persuading Dart Energy to scrap its plans.

And he claims he and his fellow campaigners are on the verge of a momentous victory and says that he expects the decision on drilling to go their way when it comes later this year.

He said: "We believe that Dart Energy cannot afford to keep security at the site or is just nowhere ready for operations to begin. The industry is on its knees before it ever began.

"My guess is very little will move now until after the election in May.

"The recent deployment of security at Borras was the industry flexing its muscles and its withdrawal from Wales has no direct effect on Shropshire."

He said he would continue to live on the site, which consists of a number of wooden shacks with little or no home comforts apart from basic fires and wood burners.

"I will be at Dudleston until the end as will others," Yellowbelly added.

"It is such a vital position and one where we have to close the gateway on the industry in Shropshire."

But Dart Energy says it wants a decision and says it believes it has provided enough information for a final decision to be made.

In a bid to speed up the process it has lodged an appeal with the government planning inspector on the grounds of non-determination by Shropshire Council.

Douglas Bain, country manager for Dart Energy, said: "It is in the best interests of all parties to have clarity on the application.

"All information to enable a decision has been submitted to the council and our discussions remain very constructive. The application clearly establishes this temporary operation would be environmentally and economically acceptable, which was confirmed by the planning committee report, and I very much hope that the appeal will be upheld."

In October members of Shropshire Council's north planning committee were unanimously opposed to the plans at a meeting.

They said the impact on people and the environment was too significant. But a decision wasn't made at the meeting as the authority's planning officers were asked to check the legal ramifications of refusing permission. Officers had initially recommended that councillors should approve the application – despite widespread opposition from environmental campaigners. But Dart Energy insisted any work carried out would be on a small scale.

As residents in Shropshire continue to fight against cthe ontroversial plans to drill for gas in the county, the debate across the UK continues to rage on.

The Scottish Government has intervened in two planning appeals for the production of coal bed methane in central Scotland.

Dart Energy had applied to Falkirk and Stirling councils for permission to drill at 14 sites in the Airth and the Forth Valley.

Ministers announced they will determine Dart Energy's appeals over the proposed development of coal bed methane production at a number of sites in the Falkirk and Stirling areas.

The proposals, in an area straddling the Falkirk and Stirling council boundary, would see 22 wells drilled and a gas delivery and water treatment facility built along with associated infrastructure.

The energy company had appealed to the Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals following non-determination of its applications by the two local planning authorities.

Planning Minister Derek Mackay said the plans were of "national interest" and needed further scrutiny.

So it is a blow for local democracy that Dart Energy is going over the heads of Shropshire councillors and is asking a Government inspector to make a decision on its plan for an exploratory gas borehole near Ellesmere.

The company says it has waited too long for the council to make a decision. For its part, council planners in October said they were minded to refuse the scheme, but asked the company for "more information". The company's view on that is that the council has all the information it needs.

This scheme has seen widespread opposition from environmental campaigners. Shropshire Council showed its hand, but did not lay down its cards. Inspectors do consider all sides of the argument fairly, but the council's failure to determine this matter must surely make it more likely that the scheme will be approved than would have been the case if the council had ruled on it – after all, the planning councillors unanimously opposed the plan in October's meeting, without actually making a decision.

Thousands of objections had been sent in to the councils from local residents and green campaigners over the plans.

The minister said the decision to call in the planning appeals was "in line with the Government's cautious, considered and evidence-based approach to unconventional oil and gas extraction in Scotland".

Meanwhile, a committee of MPs today demanded a moratorium on fracking amid concerns over local environmental risks and climate change.

The cross-party Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) warned extensive production of unconventional shale gas, which is extracted through the controversial process of fracking, is not compatible with the UK's goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The committee also called for fracking to be "prohibited outright" in protected areas such as national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and ancient woodlands, and banned in all water source protection zones.

In a report published ahead of the final Commons debate on fracking legislation in the Infrastructure Bill, the EAC warned of an "extensive range of uncertainties" over hazards ranging from polluting groundwater and water supplies to noise and disruption.

There was also a lack of public acceptance of fracking, they said.

A number of the MPs on the committee have tabled an amendment to the Infrastructure Bill calling for a moratorium on fracking for shale gas to reduce the risk the UK misses its targets to cut carbon emissions.

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