Planning Inspector's Grounds for decision

See the attached pdf file for the full decision. However, here is an example of Clive Nield's (Inspector appointed by Welsh Government ministers) unsatisfactory reasoning:

Nield writes

It has been asserted that the extraction of coal bed methane would not be feasible in the geological circumstances of the area. I do not know whether that would be the case or not. However, as the proposal before me is aimed at assessing this, it would be perverse not to allow it.

The information given to the Inspector to consider included a reference to the government's own DECC report "The Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resources of Britain's Onshore Basins" (2012) which makes clear that a large area including the location of the Borras site isn't suitable for CBM extraction. CBM extraction requires the coal seam to be dewatered before gas may successfully be extracted and the absence of a layer of impermeable rock above the coal seams in this area renders dewatering of the coal impossible and the whole enterprise unfeasible.

That the Inspector has failed to follow up and properly assess information given to him in this instance along with other unsatisfactory aspects of the decision make its validity highly questionable.

Come to the meeting in Borras on 23 October to find out more, see the facebook group (Frack Free Wrexham) or email us on frackfreewrexham [at] riseup.net to get involved.