Lancashire Council defer decision on Cuadrilla fracking plans to later date

By Adam Page
Published: Wednesday, 28 January 2015 on indmin.com

The decision comes as something of an anti-climax after the UK Parliament said it would not impose a moratorium on fracking earlier in the week and suggested that shale gas exploration in the country was getting closer to being a reality.

Lancashire County Council's Development Control Committee deferred its decision on whether to grant Cuardilla Resources planning permission for shale gas exploration to sites at Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood, in Lancashire, northwest UK.

The decision to defer came after Cuadrilla submitted additional information to its application, following an earlier council decision that said it should be rejected due to fears that the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) would be too noisy.

"The additional information we have provided on further mitigation measures will, we believe, fully address the noise and traffic concerns raised by the planning officer’s in their recommendation to refuse planning permission for both sites," Cuadrilla said in a statement.

"This additional information will be assessed by the planning officers and there will now be an opportunity for the public to properly review and comment on this," it added.

Barbara Richardson, chair of the Roseacre Awareness Group which is opposing the application, says she was disappointed there had been a referral but understood the legal pressures the Council was under.

"We believe we have quite a strong argument to get the planning application refused," Richardson told IM.

"However looking back on it now I think we will have more time to build on the evidence we already have to show that there are more reasons to reject the application," Richardson added.

Richardson said that she has written to the council to ask what mitigating circumstances Cuardilla provided. She said that from the group’s perspective, the main issue was the traffic and noise that the development would bring to the area.

"For the local residents it is quite a stressful time because we have another eight weeks now, probably, before it goes to the committee again," Richardson said.

The fate of Cuadrilla’s fracking plans could be pivotal for the future of shale gas exploration in the UK, which could open up the country as a market for oilfield minerals that can be used in the fracking process such as silica or 'frac’ sand, barites (barytes), bentonite, borates, bauxite and kaolin.