Robin Hood oak in frackers’ sights
CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT PLANS are being made for fracking to take place under Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood and his merry men rested at an ancient oak tree, according to legend.
Ineos, one of the world’s biggest chemicals companies, has won the right to start looking for gas under the forest in Nottinghamshire, in a move that could lead to its seeking permission to frack.
The area could become a flashpoint. Campaigners from Frack Free Nottinghamshire are already saying they will copy Robin Hood’s example and “defend Sherwood Forest”.
They fear Robin Hood’s folklore shelter, the Major Oak, could be at risk.
The site is also close to a Center Parcs holiday park.
Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside.
The Government has committed to fast-tracking permission for exploratory work for fracking, amid forecasts that trillions of cubic feet of shale gas may be recoverable in the UK.
However, in 2011, energy company Cuadrilla suspended test fracking operations near Blackpool in Lancashire, after two earthquakes hit the area.
A subsequent study found it “highly probable” that shale gas drilling triggered the tremors.
Documents show Ineos – via land surveyor Fisher German – has been in correspondence with the Forestry Commission since August over access to the land.
One of the many sites shown in the maps and documents released to Friends of the Earth under the Freedom of Information Act is Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve.
If the plans progress, Ineos’s seismic surveys would pass within a few hundred yards of the Major Oak, a 1,000year-old tree near the village of Edwinstowe.
According to folklore, the tree was was test Robin Hood’s shelter, where he and his merry men slept and hid from the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 15th century. In a 2002 survey, it was voted Britain’s favourite tree.
Permission was granted for the survey to start in November for two years, according to the documents, which were obtained using Freedom of Information laws.
Guy Shrubsole, a Friends of the Earth campaigner, said: “Is nothing sacred? By hunting for shale gas in Sherwood Forest, Ineos is sticking two fingers up at England’s green heritage, all in the pursuit of profit.
“The public wants to protect their English countryside and prefers renewable energy, not dirty shale gas, which will only add to climate change.”
Ineos also sought permission to carry out surveys for gas on National Trust land at Clumber Park, a large country estate to the north of Sherwood Forest but was turned down by the trust.
Ineos confirmed that it was looking to start work in Sherwood Forest but The Major Oak, above, was said to have sheltered Robin Hood, seen above right in a 20thcentury painting, and below in a 19th-century lithograph insisted that great care would be taken to protect the Major Oak.
Tom Pickering, the shale operations head, said: “Any decision to position a well site will take into account environmental features such as the Major Oak, and the planning process would also consider those issues.”
No decision on fracking under Sherwood Forest had yet been taken, he said, adding that Ineos would “undertake an extensive exploratory programme of seismic data acquisition across our wider licence area to better understand the subsurface geology, including the fracture systems”.
Ineos planned to drill vertical “coring” wells to take samples of the rock for laboratory analysis, he said.
“Only if these tests prove positive, would we then make a decision whether to drill horizontally and frack any wells in the wider licence area.”
Asked how Ineos would protect the forest, he added: “When we do drill a vertical ‘coring’ well in the area, there are many general and specific environmental protections in place, and we will of course abide by them.”