Local anti-fracking campaigners celebrate as shale-gas plans blocked in Ellesemere Port

Campaigners have welcomed a government decision this week to refuse IGas permission to test gas from their well in Ellesmere Port.

Local communities have waited for more than three years for a decision on the future of the proposed shale-gas site at Portside North in Ellesmere Port, following a public inquiry in 2019.

IGas had appealed against the decision by Cheshire West and Chester Council to refuse planning permission for testing an existing well, which has now been thrown out on climate grounds. Frack Free Ellesmere Port and Frack Free Upton were a main party in the public inquiry on the application, which ran over 3 months in 2019.

CWaC Councillor Matt Bryan said:

“It is refreshing that the government has come up with the right decision on shale gas exploration. This is in no small measure because of the work of Collin Watson and campaigners from Frack Free Dee and Frack Free Upton, who put hours of work in.

“But it is disappointing that there has been approval for further exploration for gas at Dunsfold.”

Peter Benson, member of the Frack Free Dee Coalition and joint co-ordinator of Chester & District Friends of the Earth, said:

“This is a long overdue acceptance by the Government of the reality of Climate Change and the need to reduce our use of fossil fuels – not develop any new sources.

Our late friend Colin Watson did an amazing job putting together the incontrovertible case about the insane volume of Greenhouse Gases that would have been produced had this gone ahead. We owe a tremendous debt to him and to our fantastic Barrister, Estelle Dehon of Cornerstone Barristers and the entire team that supported them.

It is also very sad that one of the founders of Frack Free Dee – Lucy Mackie – died recently without seeing this brilliant result. It is one of the greatest long-term wins from her and her husband James’ years of campaigning.

In the same announcement, we discovered that fracking at Woodsetts near Rotherham is also being banned but disappointingly, permission has been granted for an exploratory well in Loxley, near Dunsfold in Surrey. This seems bizarre as presumably they will want to flare as well and our local case has now set a benchmark which should ensure that flaring cannot take place anywhere else.

All anti-fracking campaigners and everyone who cares about the future of our planet should be celebrating this landmark result!”

The public inquiry was the first onshore oil or gas appeal to focus primarily on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Frack Free Ellesmere Port and Upton supplied several expert witnesses to the inquiry who gave evidence on the significant climate change impacts of the proposal and made the case that the proposal was against local and national policy.

In his decision, Communities Secretary, Michael Gove agreed that the scheme would have an unacceptable impact on climate change, by releasing unmitigated greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. by flaring) of 3.3-21.3 kt CO2 equivalent, and that this weighed significantly against the scheme.

The ruling also considered health and wellbeing, and that the harm arising from the adverse effects of stress and anxiety on the local community was a factor in refusing permission.

A moratorium on fracking was imposed in November 2019 following fracking-induced earthquakes at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site in Lancashire. The government has commissioned the British Geological Survey to conduct a scientific review on the latest evidence around shale gas extraction, which is expected by the end of June 2022.

IGas has six weeks in which to appeal against the decision.

The decision letter and Inspector’s report can be viewed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recovered-appeal-land-at-ellesmere-port-wellsite-portside-north-ellesmere-port-cheshire-ref-3207952-7-june-2022