NEWS FROM LANCS COUNTY COUNCIL
GAS exploration firm Cuadrilla is motoring on with its fracking plans for the Lancashire countryside.
The company has submitted an application to Lancashire County Council to cover planning conditions so work can begin on the Preston New Road site at Little Plumpton, between Preston and Blackpool.
Detailed documents lodged with the authority address conditions including noise and traffic management, access arrangements and the external colouring of equipment – proposing to change the colour of the rig from white, blue and yellow to light grey and white to “blend into clouds”.
Other conditions the application seeks to comply with include those around wheel cleaning, dust control, lighting, security fencing, ecology, landscaping, archaeology and a community liaison group.
A Traffic Management Plan (TMP) has been submitted setting out the framework for managing site traffic, particularly heavy goods vehicles, to and from the site during construction, operation and decommissioning.
It said: “Access to the site for HGVs will take place via a direct route along the A583 from junction 4 of the M55 motorway.
“To egress the site, HGVs will turn left and follow the A583 and A585 to join the M55 Motorway at junction 3.
“The permitted routes will be subject to a daily visual inspection by the site management team. Road sweepers will be kept on standby to ensure that in the unlikely event of debris or mud being deposited on the road then it will be cleared within an agreed timescale.”
The delivery or removal of materials and associated work, along with the construction of the site access and compound, will take place between 7.30am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday, except public holidays, and 8.30am to 12pm on Saturdays, except public holidays.
The document said drilling boreholes and “operational management of drilling and extended flow testing”, well operations, flowback and testing operations excluding hydraulic fracturing pumping operations and essential repairs, could take place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Pumping associated with hydraulic fracturing operations is proposed to take place from 8am to 6pm Monday to Fridays, 9am to 1pm on Saturdays and will not be permitted on Sundays or public holidays.
A noise management plan has also been submitted with Lancashire County Council and the document said the contractor would, “in so far as is reasonably practicable”, control and limit noise levels to protect residential properties from excessive noise.
Drilling noise mitigation will include sound absorption, enclosures to mud pumps and a 7m-high barrier enclosing the rig.
Other measures have been proposed “as a precaution”, to be implemented within 48 hours if “higher than predicted noise levels arise”.
A 5m-high solid barrier enclosing the pumps is intended to mitigate against hydraulic fracturing noise in the long term.
Noise loggers will be installed to record noise levels “continuously” during the preparation, use and decommissioning of the site.
A 4m-high sound barrier wall, with razor wire at the top, is also proposed for the site.
Construction work is proposed to be limited, “as far as possible”, to daylight hours.
But the document said: “Should the programme dictate working outside summer months then, temporary, localised task lighting along with localised lighting for walkways will be used.”
It said 24-hour security lighting would be used during the construction of the site, with the security team using torches for “routine patrols and working at night”.
A complaints procedure has also been established.
A decision on the plans is due to be made by officers at Lancashire County Council under delegated powers.