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.

PEDL Licence areas

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.

Letter from INEOS

The plans by the previous Labour administration to push a three storey development block onto the garage area off Newbury Avenue have been replaced following consultation with local residents by the new Council administration which is joint between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. Instead the Executive agreed tonight that 8 bungalows will be constructed (which will require to go through the planning process following the tendering for developers) This will assist people who want to ‘downsize’ whilst remaining in the area. Improvements to parking in the area is needed already, with the impending impacts of the 55 Hobstone homes.

At tonight’s Executive Meeting Cllr Waller said;

Newbury Avenue Garage areas

I am grateful for the time that the Leader, as Executive Member for Housing has put in to helping to progress this situation with council officers by meeting with residents with me as ward member.

Local residents felt that their views had been entirely disregarded by the previous council.

Across the ward I am frequently asked about options to move into bungalows so that people can stay in the area as they downsize, this will answer this concern and bring family homes into use.

It has utilised experience from the Discuss Bungalow replacement project in the East of the City which was a strong example of working alongside communities to develop a solution which has answered many housing needs, and I would like to pay tribute to Steve Waddington for his work in making sure that project continued at a time during the early credit crunch when others schemes were grinding to a halt.

The area has some three storey blocks of flats, and high density semi detached housing, but this is balanced by open areas, and in this case a low rise group of garages. Putting in a three storey block was overdevelopment, and this was recognised by the residents, and I hope by the executive.

Now whilst there has been some understanding of the need to provide housing, it does need to be considered in the context of being close to the Hobstone/Our Lady’s School development which seems to be a never ending building site.

There does need to be very careful consideration of how the development would be managed to ensure that there is not a repeat of the disruption that has been endured nearby are not repeated.

It is important to resolve the shortage of parking in this area, which will not be helped by the loss of these garages. The matrix parking system has been used in other parts of the estate, and with the restoration of the Estate Improvement Grant together with some of the ward funding which has been allocated for communal parking.

Getting this in at the beginning would enable residents to park whilst there is development work happening in this narrow road. Given the problems that have been generated by the Hobstone Development it is important to get this right , and as Newbury Avenue is a very narrow road it is worth doing this at the beginning of the process.