just by chance10 Nov 2013 10:49
Just floating
round some areas and came across with interest
as Nook farm sleepy till spring, may as well check out some of the PEDL licences to keep
ourselves amused
The Trust took ownership of the former Cronton Colliery site in 2011. A condition attached to the transfer of land relates to the mineral rights on the sight. In this respect, Alkane Energy currently hold a PEDL (Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence) for the site, in an agreement that predates the Trust ownership and which we agreed to comply with when taking ownership.The geology of coalfields means that some former mine works have reserves of methane. At Cronton, there are existing pumping vents on the site, which enable methane to be safely vented rom the former mine workings. However, on some coalfields, there is sufficient methane for extraction to be commercially viable. Tests and surveys to date indicate that there are not sufficient quantities of methane for commercial extraction to be commercially viable at Cronton. However, in order to maintain their PEDL, Alkane wish to sink an exploratory bore hole on the site.The operation itself is temporary and relatively minor. As such, it does not need planning permission; only a General Permitted Development Order, which Alkane have applied for and Knowsley Council has granted. Therefore, we have agreed a licence for the exploration to take place. The licence allows Alkane to be on site for no more than 28 days, however, the actual sinking of the bore hole will only take 7 days. This will be between the hours of 7.30am - 5.00pm Monday - Friday, and 7.30 - 1.30pm Saturday. There will be no drilling on a Sunday. The condition of the licence states that disturbance to residents should be kept to an absolute minimum. Such operation is controlled by noise guidelines which state that noise levels to residents can be no louder than 10 decibels above the background noise. Noise testing has taken place and we have been assured that the noise level from this operation will actually be less than the background noise from the road or motorway.As previously mentioned, all surveys to date indicate that extraction will not be commercially viable. However, should this exploration prove different, it does not mean that extraction will necessarily go ahead. In this case, we would await more detailed plans, including size; appearance; logistics of operation; disturbance and any effects on the plans for restoring the site to a park. We would share this information with the community and all stakeholders before making a decision together.Finally and most importantly, the Trust remains exclusively committed to providing a country park for local residents and communities to enjoy.The only reason we would chose to go ahead would be that the income generated by leasing part of the site on a temporary basis for extraction would bring forward the opening of the park. - See more at: http://www.thelandtrust.org.uk/business/news-detail.html
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