No shale gas wells to be fracked in the UK this year

Despite strong government support, fracking company Cuadrilla says progress on the ground remains slow
Despite strong government support, fracking company Cuadrilla says progress on the ground remains slow

The industry has confirmed that no shale gas wells will be drilled in Britain this year.

As a key fracking decision nears, the government will decide whether to accept shale company Cuadrilla’s appeal against Lancashire county council’s decision last year to turn down its application for two fracking sites.

But even if communities secretary Sajid Javid green lights the fracking, as expected, Cuadrilla said that construction it needs to undertake at the two sites on the Fylde means the earliest drilling could start would be April next year.

A spokeswoman for Cuadrilla said: "If we get planning consent we would first need to discharge planning conditions with Lancashire county council, then we would need to build the site so likely drilling would commence Q2 2017."

The consequences of fracking

Only one shale gas well near Blackpool, in Lancashire, has so far been fracked in Britain, but was later abandoned when some of the work undertaken triggered an earth tremor.

That resulted in an 18 month ban on the hydraulic fracturing technology used to extract gas from shale rock.

Some farmers have been critical of fracking and the direct consequences of the activity on nearby farms.

A North Yorkshire farmer has spoken of her fear of pollution after a local authority gave the go-ahead for fracking operations in the UK for the first time in five years.

She told FarmingUK that her cattle were reliant on water from a borehole, which she feared could be contaminated by the fracking operations.

The farmer said that evidence was emerging from the United States, where fracking has been used for some years, that water sources had been polluted.