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Mid Sussex residents fired up about fracking in Balcombe
A MEETING is being held in Balcombe this week about fears over plans to start ‘fracking’ for gas and oil in Mid Sussex.
The Victory Hall in Balcombe is expected to be packed on Wednesday night when locals and others from the wider Mid Sussex area gather to hear the implications for them and the district if fracking is allowed at the Lower Stumble site, off the B2028 London Road to the south of the village.
West Sussex County Council granted planning permission for the current exploration works in April 2010 at the Lower Stumble Hydrocarbon Exploration Site, which was first investigated in the late 1980s.
Permission was granted to Cuadrilla Resources Ltd to upgrade the existing platform and to drill a single exploratory borehole for oil and gas exploration, subject to conditions governing time limits (3 years), approved operations programme, hours of working, noise, lighting, restoration, access, fencing, groundwater drainage and protection.
Cuadrilla would have to make a new application if it wished to commence any extraction of oil or gas from the site, according to Balcombe Parish Council.
Cuadrilla is currently undertaking drilling in the north-west of England, and says that it has no firm plans for work on the Balcombe site.
It has advised WSCC that it will notify various parties, including Balcombe Parish Council, if and when it intends to commence work at the Lower Stumble site. To date Balcombe Parish Council has not received any such notification from Cuadrilla.
“Fracking” (Hydraulic Fracturing) is a technique that uses water pumped at high pressure into layers of rock to create fractures that allow the shale gas trapped within the rock to be extracted via a borehole.
All fracking operations in the UK are currently suspended by order of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, while risks associated with the process are investigated.
Balcombe Parish Council says that Cuadrilla has advised that at this stage it has no plans to carry out any fracking during the drilling and testing of the new borehole at the Lower Stumble site.
Any change in these plans to include any fracking operations would first require the Department of Energy and Climate Change to have lifted the current suspension. The meeting on Wednesday night starts at 7.30pm.
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Weather for Haywards Heath
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
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ben johns
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 11:37 PMCuadrilla documents show Balcombe water vulnerable to fracking - http:gasdrillinginbalcombe.wordpress.com20120116cuadrilla-documents-balcombe-water-vulnerable-to-fracking
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