Photo: Woodsetts Against Fracking

Ineos has announced it plans to submit a new application for shale gas exploration in the South Yorkshire village of Woodsetts.

In March 2018, Rotherham councillors voted unanimously against the company’s previous application in the village.

An official notice, dated yesterday, was posted at the site off Dinnington Road. It said the application was expected to be submitted on 13 June 2018.

The plans included:

• Construction of a well site
• Creation of a new access track
• Mobilisation of drilling, ancillary equipment and contractor welfare facilities
• Drilling and pressure transient testing a vertical hydrocarbon exploratory core well
• Mobilisation of workover rig and listening well operations
• Retention of site and wellhead assembly gear for five years

These are the same key elements as in the previous application.

Ineos appealed against the non-determination of two other shale gas applications in the region – one at Harthill in Rotherham and one at Marsh Lane in Derbyshire. The result of the public inquiry into the Harthill application is expected soon. The Marsh Lane inquiry opens in Chesterfield on Tuesday 19 June 2018.

The original site plan. Map: Ineos

The notice is required under Article 13 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) Order 2015. This obliges people proposing to apply for planning permission for mineral working to inform formally the owners or tenants of land to which the application relates.

Under the order, the notice must be displayed for not less than seven days in the period of 21 days immediately before the application is made to the local planning authority.

Any representations must be made to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council by 11 July 2018. This period does not replace any public consultation period when the application has been submitted and published.

When submitted, the application must be validated by planners at Rotherham Council. This means the company has completed the application form, supplied the required information and paid the correct fee.

The application will then be posted on the council’s planning website and open for public comments. The consultation period usually lasts at least three weeks but can be six weeks or more. DrillOrDrop will report on the contents on the application when it becomes public.

Ineos statement

A spokesperson for Ineos said in a statement:

“INEOS Shale has re-submitted the application for a test drilling site at Woodsetts to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.  The original application was opposed by the Council on the grounds of impact on ecology and traffic concerns.  The fresh application therefore gives the Council the opportunity to consider the application again, applying its experience at the Harthill Inquiry to Woodsetts and reflecting feedback made by stakeholders.”

Tom Pickering, Operations Director at INEOS Shale said

“We hope that the consultation process up till now has provided the Council with a better understanding of our methodology and that the Council will take a different view on what we hope should be a straightforward application. The majority of statutory consultees agree that this development should go ahead.”