Out-Law News 2 min. read

Shale exploration in England one step closer, says expert, as planning officer recommends fracking approval


A planning officer at Lancashire County Council (LCC) has recommended that the council approve one of two applications to drill, hydraulic fracture and 'flow test' for shale gas brought by energy firm Cuadrilla.

The council's development control committee will review the recommendations at a committee meeting next week, when a final decision on the planning applications will be made

Infrastructure planning expert Robbie Owen of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the announcement would be welcomed not only by Cuadrilla but also by the wider onshore oil and gas industry.

"The recommendation by planning officers to give planning permission for one of the two sites reflects the emphasis that has been placed by the government on a presumption in favour of well-thought out, sustainable development," he said.

"The recommendation is a good omen as progress has clearly been made on the noise impacts of fracking although there is still more to be done on highway and traffic issues, with LCC officers concluding that the other application should be refused because there would be a 'severe reduction in overall highway safety'. It brings us a step closer to the reality of significant shale exploration in England," he said.

The UK government has signalled its support for properly licensed and regulated shale gas exploration and production, backed by industry-funded schemes providing as much as £1 billion in benefits to the local communities where fracking takes place. Almost every aspect of shale and coal bed methane exploration and production is regulated through a combination of regimes overseen by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), local authorities, the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive, amongst others.

Having rejected the application for planning consent at the site next to Preston New Road in January, the planning officer recommended that the application should be approved, subject to "a number of conditions controlling time limits, working programme, restriction on permitted development rights, highway matters, soil management, hours of working, safeguarding of water courses, control of noise, dust, lighting, security, ecology, archaeology, landscaping, restoration and aftercare."

The recommendation made to the LCC's development and control committee on  a second application, for a site near Roseacre Wood, said that it should be refused due to an anticipated increase in road traffic, particularly involving heavy goods vehicles which would have "an unacceptable impact on the rural highway network and on existing road users, particularly vulnerable road users, and a reduction in overall highway safety that would be severe."

The council has urged interested parties to respond to the planning officers' recommendations (82-page / 555KB PDF) ahead of its meeting next week.

"LCC councillors will vote on the applications for both sites, but they are not legally obliged to follow their planning officers' recommendations," said infrastructure planning expert Robbie Owen. "If LCC approves the application for the Preston New Road site, as per officers' recommendation, opponents would be looking at a judicial review as the only form of challenge to the planning permission – a slow and expensive process and a high hurdle to success."

Fracking involves pumping water at high pressure into rock to create narrow fractures through which trapped natural gas can flow out and be captured. Natural gas extracted from shale rock formations at significant depths below ground has become an increasingly important source of fuel in the US over the past decade.

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