PLANNERS will decide today whether land near Market Weighton could be used to test for potential gas production.
An application will be put to East Riding Council’s planning committee to drill a temporary borehole on land northwest of North Cliffe.
The purpose is to remove a core of coal for analysis to test the presence and quality of the coalbed methane ga
s within.
A form of natural gas extracted from coal beds, coalbed methane has become a source of energy in other countries around the world.
Despite several pilot drilling schemes in Britain, there is yet to be large-scale operational development yet. Unlike much natural gas, coalbed methane contains very little propane or butane.
The application to East Riding Council is from Composite Energy and has been recommended for approval by planning officers. Using a strip of land 165ft by 210ft at Bielsbeck Farm, drilling operations would last four weeks and will be surrounded by a 4ft high perimeter fence and be continually manned.
The borehole will be drilled vertically to more than 540 yards. Once the work has been completed, all the land will be returned to its original state.
Formal planning consent is required for the rig, which would stand at 54ft high.
The application has received no objections from the Environment Agency, Public Protection and Market Weighton Town Council.
However, North and South Cave Parish Council say it should be rejected.
Despite being more than 500 yards to the nearest dwelling, they say the flat landscape would fail to dampen the drilling noise, that the proposed rig would be conspicuous and that access to the site is along narrow country lanes that fail to cope with the current volume of traffic.
An objection letter was also received from one nearby resident, who said the tranquil nature of the area would be disturbed, that the drilling rig would have a damaging effect on the environment and also the noise impact.
