A shale gas well in Nottinghamshire that has been mothballed for more than four years has been decommissioned, officials have confirmed.

The well at the Springs Road site in Misson has been plugged and abandoned. Plant and machinery have also been removed from the well pad.

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire County Council said:

“Formal notification of plugging and abandonment has been received. 

“The site has effectively been restored to its previous condition and we expect to shortly receive formal notification that the restoration is complete.”

The spokesperson also said:

“A limited number of concrete blocks remain near the site entrance and are scheduled to be removed shortly.”

The site operator, IGas (now known as Star Energy), drilled the exploration well in January 2019 and described the shale gas find as a “very material world-class resource”.

It had permission to drill a second, horizontal well at Springs Road and had said this well would be fracked.

But this work was never carried out and the site has been mothballed since 2019.

IGas blamed a moratorium on fracking in England, introduced that year and still in force.

Local campaigners said the company had long enough to complete the second well and had chosen not to do so.

In 2020, the company sought to extend the life of Springs Road by another three years.

But the county council voted almost unanimously against an extension (12 against with one abstention) and ordered the site be restored.

The operations at Springs Road were opposed locally and nationally. Misson Parish Council said the lives of local people had been “blighted” since the prospect of shale gas in the area was first raised in 2014.

The Springs Road well was one of four UK onshore shale gas wells.

Work to decommission two others, at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site in Lancashire, is due to start in summer 2024. That site must be restored by June 2025.

A fourth shale gas well, at Tinker Lane, also in Nottinghamshire, was decommissioned in 2019.

The Springs Road wellpad is close to the Misson Carr site of special scientific interest (SSSI), a large wetland fen that is home to all five species of British owl, as well as other rare and threatened wildlife.

Work to decommission the well and restore the site was required by planning conditions to be done outside the bird nesting season, to prevent disturbance on the SSSI. The annual nesting season began on 1 February.

The pad was also on the site of a former bombing range and test area for cold war Bloodhound surface to air missiles.

Correction: IGas had permission to drill a second well but not permission for fracking.   

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