Many residents will have become interested in the prospect of fracking or shale gas extraction coming close to York. The Government have divided the areas of the country where the geology is appropriate into licence areas (PEDL).

As there have been a large number of questions put to Cllr Andrew Waller as Executive Member for Environment for this subject a meeting was held with INEOS on 28th February with Tom Pickering (Operations Director) and Gordon Grant (Regional Stakeholder Engagement Manager) with a council officer present. There is currently an Inspector reviewing the Minerals and Waste Strategy for York and North Yorkshire which will partly govern the operation of this activity – although the Government has legislated for this to be “permitted development” and so only limited powers exist for local authorities in terms of Planning.

 

The meeting was a follow up to one in November 2016 at which the programme for activities were discussed, and the way in which the public would see planning applications, and activities on the ground.

In the draft Minerals and Waste Strategy (as part of the Local Plan) a buffer of 500m between fracking and housing has been proposed the discussions indicated that this is going to be a subject of discussion at the Inquiry. Some residents have asked for a greater distance.

As York’s surrounding countryside is relatively flat there are concerns that in the Green Belt that fracking construction would be more visible. The response was that in the lifetime of a well the rig would be present for 3 months or so, the longer lasting equipment would be less intrusive. There will be a debate at the inquiry about what is acceptable on the skyline.

Some residents have asked what the gas will be used for, with some suggestion that this will be linked to plastic production – the answer was until the test drilling is done the composition of the gas is uncertain. A methane only gas supply would be most often used for electricity generation, with only ethane and butane being potential for plastics.

Residents are concerned about water use and outputs. The response was that the initial uses would be for cooling and lubrication and so would be carried away by tanker. It would only be in the long term future that it might be carried by underground pipework for treatment. The need for additional treatment plants to the existing one in Leeds would be driven by the scale of the operation.

In terms of the length of time after the test drilling that the public would see an application for the next stages the processing of data, and baseline monitoring before activity there might be a period of 6 months to a year before a full application was made into the local authority planning process. This may be for an application for vertical and horizontal drilling at the same time to prevent the need for a subsequent application.

There have been questions raised about the number of fracking pads in a 10 km square, and the proposed limit of 10 pads in this area will be something which will be a subject of discussion during the inspection.

In terms of the PEDL area which includes Strensall it was agreed that a statement will be prepared by Gordon Grant. The area which includes the Minster and large built up areas is not being progressed.

Work continues with the old Coal Board Surveys which will be supplemented where necessary with seismic surveys to gain an evidence base. The public applications are expected to be applied for before August 2018 depending on other work around the country which is being done at the same time.