Following Setback, Cuadrilla Seeks Deferral
Cuadrilla has asked for a deferral on a decision on whether to allow two new fracking sites in Lancashire.
The UK shale gas leader has written to Lancashire county council, requesting the deferral following a setback to its plans.
Planning officers recently recommended that county council should refuse Cuadrilla permission to explore for shale gas at Preston New Road, near Little Plumpton and at Roseacre Wood, near Roseacre due to the noise and traffic issues.
Cuadrilla has written to Lancashire County Council’s Development Control Committee with details of measures to address the concerns, and asked for the decision to be deferred so the information can be properly considered.
The Development Control Committee had been due to make a decision on the proposed sites next week.
The planning officers said the noise from the 24-hour drilling operations would “unnecessarily and unacceptably” affect properties neighbouring the sites. At the Roseacre Wood, the report said, there would be an increase in traffic, particularly the upto 50 heavy goods vehicles servicing the fracking site, which would result in an unacceptable impact on rural roads and reduce road safety.
In a statement, Cuadrilla said: “Lessening the impact of our proposed operations on local residents is important to us.”
As a result, the company said, it had written to the committee outlining mitigation measures on noise and traffic. “The detail of this additional mitigation requires proper consultation and planning regulations clearly require this. We have therefore also requested a deferral in the determination of our planning applications to allow for this to consultation to take place.”
“We and our expert advisers believe these mitigations address all issues which have recently been raised by the officers and should be more widely discussed before the Development Control Committee determines the planning applications.
Francis Egan, Chief Executive Officer of Cuadrilla said that his company had no choice but to ask for a deferal as they had come up with new proposals to lessen the impact at both sites and these would, under UK planning law, have to go out for a consultation period of 14 to 21 days.
Egan continued: “We have already agreed to three requests for deferals from Lancashire County Council and we don’t think it unreasonable for them to agree to a deferral now.