Timeline: shale gas in the UK
Contents
2011
2012
2013
2014
October
- Task Force on Shale Gas set up, funded by Cuadrilla, Centrica and Total among others. Headed by Lord Chris Smith, former head of the Environment Agency. Secretariat run by giant PR and lobbying firm Edelman UK.
2015
December
- Task Force on Shale Gas - publishes final report, concluding that 'shale gas can be produced safely and usefully in the UK', and that there is 'no more risk to the public from fracking than other comparable industries'. This echoes industry and UK government's position.
2016
January
- 8: An interview with a senior executive of INEOS, Tim Pickering, reveals company’s intention to divert efforts in shale gas exploration away from Scotland, towards Cheshire and other areas of England, following significant costs of running informational community meetings. [1]
- 12: Bailiffs evict an anti-fracking protest camp at the IGas Duttons Lane site near Chester, with the estimated involvement of 175 officers from four police forces, and nine arrests.[2]
- 18: MP for Thirsk and Malton, Kevin Hollinrake, announces his resignation as Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Unconventional Oil and Gas, following pressure from his constituents. .[3]
- 19: Nottinghamshire County Council approves IGas’s application for up to twelve groundwater monitoring boreholes at a proposed shale gas site, despite 314 public objections to the application. [4]
- 31: A leaked government plan from July 2015, signed by three cabinet ministers, reveals proposals to take decisions for fracking wells away from local councils were tabled shortly after Lancashire County Council refused permission to Cuadrilla to frack wells in the Fylde.[5]
February
- 5: IGas announces it will abandon plans to drill for coal bed methane at Upton near Chester, where a protest camp was previously evicted at the cost of £200,000 to Cheshire Police.[6]
- 8: The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire demands IGas pay the costs of the operation to evict a protest camp from its exploratory gas site at Upton.[7]
- 9: An inquiry commences considering the planning appeals by Cuadrilla against Lancashire County Council’s refusal of applications to drill up to eight fracking wells, and seismic monitoring plans, across sites at Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood.[8]
- 23: The Planning Inspectorate grants permission to Cuadrilla for site restoration and monitoring at the Grange Hill exploration site near Singleton in Lancashire, despite Lancashire County Council refusing permission in May 2015.[9]
March
- 15: Ryedale District Council of North Yorkshire County Council votes against Third Energy’s planning application to frack near the village of Kirby Misperton, and recommends refusal of a scheme to frack the existing KM8 well.[10]
- 16: The closing day of the public inquiry considering the planning appeals by Cuadrilla against Lancashire County Council’s refusal of applications to drill up to eight fracking wells, and seismic monitoring plans, across sites at Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood. [11]
- 23: Coastal Oil and Gas appeals against the refusal of its application for an exploratory test well at Hendre Farm, Llanharan, by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council.[12]
- 24: IGas refuses requests by The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire to pay for the policing costs of the anti-fracking camp eviction in Upton in January 12 2016, following the company’s abandonment of its Duttons Lane fracking site. [13]
- 26: Carl Sargeant, the Natural Resources Minister for Wales, extends a moratorium on unconventional gas and oil developments to underground coal gasification, preventing local authorities from approving planning applications for fracking sites without referring to Welsh Ministers. [14]
- 30: Council officers for Surry approve plans by IGas to its oil and gas production sites near Bletchingley Central, over the next fifteen years. [15]
April
May
June
July
August
- 23 May - first planning permission granted for fracking in UK in five years to Third Energy by North Yorkshire County Council
Notes
- ↑ Ruth Hayhurst, INEOS interview: Company spotlight turns to English shale gas areas, Drill or Drop, 8 January 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ Damien Gayle, Anti-fracking protesters evicted from Cheshire camp, The Guardian, 12 January 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ Kevin Hollinrake, All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Unconventional Oil and Gas, Kevin Hollinrake, 18 January 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ Misson borehole drilling plan given the green light, Retford Times, 19 January 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ Christopher Hope, Ministers plot to foil anti-frackers, The Telegraph, 30 January 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ 'No commercial drilling' at Upton anti-fracking protest site, IGas says, BBC News, 5 February 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ David Holmes, 'Outraged' Cheshire police boss aims to recover £200K costs from energy firm, The Chester Chronicle, 8 February 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ Frances Perraudin, Lancashire council's fracking refusal was 'democracy in action', The Guardian, 9 February 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ Cuadrilla wins Lancashire monitoring site appeal, BBC News, 23 February 2016, accessed 13 September 2016
- ↑ Ryedale District Council votes to oppose fracking at site in Kirby Misperton, ITV News, 15 March 2016, accessed 14 September 2016
- ↑ [1], The Blackpool Gazette, 17 March 2016, accessed 14 September 2016
- ↑ Appeals Casework Portal Reference: APP/L6940/A/16/3145869 GOV.uk, accessed 14 September 2016
- ↑ Energy firm IGas will not pay for Upton anti-fracking camp police operation, The Chester Standard, 24 March 2016, accessed 14 September 2016
- ↑ Minister extends moratorium to underground coal gasification, GOV.wales, 25 March 2016, accessed 14 September 2016
- ↑ Ruth Hayhurst, IGas gets go-ahead for 15 years of gas and oil production at Bletchingley, Surrey, Drill or Drop, 30 March 2016, accessed 14 September 2016
