Cuadrilla’s Grange Hill site at Singleton returned to farmland, December 2018. Photo: Cuadrilla Resources
Cuadrilla announced yesterday that it had restored its shale gas site at Grange Road, Singleton, in the Fylde region of Lancashire. The work to return the site to farmland was completed two months before the deadline set by a planning inspector – but it was almost seven years after the time limit for restoration agreed in the original planning permission.
Another Cuadrilla site in the region, at Becconsall, was restored in August this year, almost six years after the original deadline.
The restoration works bring to an end Cuadrilla’s early attempts to frack for shale gas in the Fylde. Singleton and Becconsall, along with Preese Hall, were described by an industry insider as the company’s three original shale gas exploration wells in the region.
Cuadrilla said it had restored Preese Hall, at Weeton, in April 2015 (link). Another site, at Anna’s Road, Westby, was returned to farmland in July 2014, the company said (link). Of all these sites, only Preese Hall saw high volume hydraulic fracturing and none went into production.
The company’s latest fracking plans are centred on Preston New Road, near Blackpool. It began fracking there on 15 October 2018 but operations appear to have stopped on 2 November 2018 and there have been no public reports that fracking has resumed. The company’s remaining shale gas proposal in the Fylde, at Roseacre Wood, is awaiting a decision by the local government secretary, expected early in 2019.
Eight years at Singleton
Drilling for shale gas at Cuadrilla’s Grange Road site at Singleton. Photo: Cuadrilla Resources
Cuadrilla said it started work to restore the Grange Road site in July 2018. The company announced yesterday (4 December 2018) the restoration had been completed.
Permission was originally granted to frack for shale gas at Grange Road, Singleton, on 21 April 2010. A condition of the consent was that the site would be restored within 18 months of the start of work.
Work began on 20 July 2010, which put the deadline for restoration at 19 January 2012.
A month before the deadline expired, Cuadrilla applied to extend the consent for testing the well and restoration until 20 July 2013. It had been unable to frack because of the moratorium following earthquakes linked to the company’s operations at Preese Hall.
This application was later withdrawn when Cuadrilla said it no longer intended to frack at Singleton. But in the meantime, in May 2014, Cuadrilla applied for a second time to extend the deadline, this time for three years, to use the site for pressure testing and seismic monitoring.
The application was decided by Lancashire County Council a year later on 20 May 2015. Had the application been approved, it would have taken the deadline to 20 May 2018. But councillors refused permission.
Cuadrilla appealed and the planning inspector, Elizabeth Ord, overturned the council’s decision. In her decision document of 23 February 2016, she said the site must be restored within three years, taking the deadline to 23 February 2019.
The Cuadrilla chief executive, Francis Egan, said of the restoration:
“We’re committed to Lancashire and as part of our exploration efforts in the County and this includes restoring sites to their former pre-exploration use.
“The restoration works at Grange Hill are a fantastic example of how we return the land back to its original state after exploration. It is also the second restoration project to be completed by Cuadrilla this year, as we removed the wellhead and restored the former exploration site at Becconsall to its original ‘Greenfield’ status in August.”
Plugging and abandonment work at Cuadrilla’s shale gas well at Singleton, 19 July 2018. Photo: Ros Wills
Eight years at Becconsall
As Mr Egan said, the Becconsall site was finally restored in August 2018. This was almost six years after the deadline set in the original planning consent.
Restoration of Cuadrilla’s Becconsall site. Photo: Cuadrilla Resources
Cuadrilla was granted permission to drill for shale gas at the Becconsall site on 20 October 2010. The consent included a condition that the site should be restored within 18 months of the start of work.
Work began on 28 March 2011, which put the restoration deadline at 27 September 2012.
Eight days before the deadline, on 19 September 2012, the company made its first application to delay restoration – to 28 March 2014.
Before this application was heard, Cuadrilla made a second request for a further extension of consent and for a mini-frack at Becconsall. This would have taken the deadline to 28 September 2014.
But councillors did not decide on the application because Cuadrilla withdrew it on 22 September 2014.
In the meantime, the company made a third application to extend permission at Becconsall. This was approved and gave the company three more years to carry out pressure monitoring. The deadline was set at 31 October 2016 if pressure monitoring equipment were installed.
Cuadrilla announced it would begin restoration in spring 2016. But no work was carried out. Lancashire County Council admitted a loophole in the condition. The 31 October 2016 deadline did not apply because pressure monitoring equipment had not been installed.
The deadline was extended for a fourth time until 1 May 2018. In practice, the work had to be carried out by 31 October 2017. This was because another condition prevented work during the winter bird season (31 October-31 March) and there was not enough time to finish the work between 1 April 2018 and 1 May 2018.
In a rare move, in March 2017, councillors brought the restoration deadline forward. They told Cuadrilla the deadline should instead be 31 August 2017.
But just under a month before the deadline expired, the company applied for another extension to 31 October 2018. This would have been the fifth extension but this time, the council refused.
Despite this, Cuadrilla did not begin restoration until April 2018 and the company said the site was fully restored in August 2018.
Categories: Regulation
DRILL OR DROP? 
Well. Look like they are closing down all the sites. And soon PNR too which is the only site left and seem to get nowhere despite the rosy promise by Cuadrilla of gas production and energy supply security for UK.
All that extra time for the wild birds to multiply unhindered! Wonder if they will be able to do the same when agriculture returns?
Oh, I forgot the good people of that area are not too keen on agriculture either. (Remember the Blackpool Gazette article crembrule, that then was covered by most of the national press?)
Can you post a link Martin? Your posts are pretty much forgettable and generally consist of the same Collyerwibble ad infinitum.
Is this it crem?
“Jobs more important than ethics” in crems World…
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bae-mass-surveillance-equipment-saudi-arabia-qatar-algeria-uk-arms-giant-arab-middle-east-yemen-a7791291.html
Or this?
https://www.theguardian.com/baefiles/story/0,,2231496,00.html
Or was it this?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/british-companies-exploit-loophole-to-sell-arms-abroad-without-licences-1177759.html
No that’s not it Kish it MC clearly stated the article is from the Gazette
That’s Blackpools local paper btw but you might not know where the town is. I would mark it on a map for you but you wouldn’t be able to read it .
That said your posting of unrelated links to the point in question makes me think your comprehension skills might be a bit off too.
You could practice your reading skills by reading articles about all those Fylde job losses you are advocating in it to. There might be an article on Caudrillas poor track record on the Fylde in there too.
Keep trying x
Wow impressed by those links Kish a 404 and an article from 1998
I thought that the countryside was going to be ‘concreted over’ and completely industrialised by drilling and fracking. Not from this evidence. Maybe it is a bit late but the permanent impact of any shale gas operation is….. a field! Just like it started out as.
Credit where credit is due ( and there is none due here) Caudrilla’s record on site restoration is woeful.
You mean you are unable AGAIN to access the Blackpool Gazette, crembrule???!!!
Oh dear. Spoon feeding crembrule. Decadent in the extreme. DYOR. New experiences are good for the soul.
You should see how long it took to achieve dredging of the Solent to allow the new generation container ships to navigate without interfering with the salmon migration. Grange Hill? Positively Bolt like. Oh, by the way, the salmon who would end up swimming up that “polluted” waterway (the Test, LOL) past the oil site at Stockbridge.
(And, when these new, bigger ships are utilising the passageway who/what is keeping the water nice and clean? Ohh, good old Fawley Refinery putting cleaner water back than it took out for cooling purposes.)
Yeah I haven’t read that waffle Martin, did you post that link yet?
[Typo corrected at poster’s request]
I should check it out on RT, crembrule.
But, if you do manage to navigate the Blackpool Gazette you will find it was about locals not liking the idea of smell, noise and sexual activity within their back yard. (Try Giggling that. It may get you to where you need to be. If not, it may take you to who knows where!)
Not too sure that Grange Hill back to agriculture will please those particular Nimbys, or maybe it was a coded message regarding PNR!
Is that a no regarding the link then MC?
Simple request, no other text required! just cut and paste relevant hyperlink into comments box
Martin have you got the link yet?
Martin link?
Still having problems researching the subject crembrule?
No need to keep exposing that. We had worked that one out.
Actually yes Martin I am struggling to find the story you keep referring too, help s brother out and post the link, I have only asked you it must be 30 times, Kishney would have posted it and ten others.
Martin did you ever find that link for the article you mentioned?
“The restoration works at Grange Hill are a fantastic example of how we return the land back to its original state after exploration. It is also the second restoration project to be completed by Cuadrilla this year, as we removed the wellhead and restored the former exploration site at Becconsall to its original ‘Greenfield’ status in August.”
I really think Egan has lost the plot with this statement, any ordinary citizen taking that long to re instate a plot would have been taken to task but he regards so many years adrift as a fantastic example, it is, of inefficiency.
Hmmm.
Plenty of MOD sites still not restored after decades, probably due to similar reasons ie. restoration is often delayed until there is certainty they will not be required. Perhaps the delay has been caused by delays at PNR?
Hmmm.
What has the MOD got to do with anything? Cuadrilla are not the MOD, they’re just a private company who were told by the planning authorities to reinstate the sites years ago. Since then they have squirmed and obfuscated until the local authority have finally lost all patience with them and forced them to reinstate the sites. They may have reinstated the top surface but there is no way they can reinstate what lies beneath. A further point is the anguish and uncertainty those living nearby have had to endure for all those years. Of course, this will be irrelevant to pro fracking supporters who care nothing for the local communities caught up in this madness.
Have you found a link to that article you mentioned Marty?
Anguish and uncertainty. Really?
What has been happening at this site for some recent time?
Nothing. Apart from birds nesting.
Strange how gas sites out to sea from Blackpool, when operating, have not caused such anguish and uncertainty.
Seems the anguish and uncertainty is just being directed at a company, rather than an issue. We already knew that, but thanks for the confirmation.
Have you found a link to that article you mentioned Marty?
Being forced to shut a site down you had big plans for will be of great concern to worried Investors.
Lancashire County Council Development Control refused Cuadrilla’s last application to keep the Becconsall well site open.
In a private meeting attended by Cuadrilla, Ribble Estuary Against Fracking and Friends of the Earth presented evidence to Lancashire County Council Development Control of the functional links between the Becconsall site and the protected RAMSAR site.
Cuadrilla withdrew their approved application to hydraulically fracture the Becconsall well later the same day.
Maybe Cuadrilla is gradually packing up their operation in Lancashire. PNR is going nowhere and with no prospect of being able to get past the seismic limits to make it commercial viable. So it looks like the dream of the anti frackers are coming true.