Households living within 1km of the UK’s first commercial fracking operation are to receive about £2,000 each in compensation from Cuadrilla, the energy company behind the contentious shale gas project. The payments announced on Monday may help to placate residents living close to Cuadrilla’s site in Lancashire, some of whom are strongly opposed to the company’s plans.
Fracking companies are required by law to pay £100,000 to the local community for each well that they drill as compensation for disruption such as noise and increased lorry traffic. The 29 households within 1km of Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site near Blackpool will each receive about £2,000. A further 259 households located 1km to 1.5km from the site will each get about £150. The move by Cuadrilla follows consultation with residents, with the company having already paid £100,000 to a community benefit fund in relation to its first well. It has planning permission for two more wells.
Cuadrilla has yet to hydraulically fracture — or frack — the first well. This involves blasting a mix of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into the rock more than 2km below ground to split it and release pockets of gas. Fracking has unleashed an energy revolution in the US that sharply reduced the price of gas. The UK government wants to stimulate a similar industry but councils have largely blocked developments over fears that leaks could contaminate water supplies and that drilling rigs and concrete well pads could spoil the countryside.
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The government paused fracking in 2011 after Cuadrilla caused minor tremors during a fracking test at a different site near Blackpool. After the company secured planning permission from the government last year to frack at the Preston New Road site, Cuadrilla brought a drilling rig to the area in July. Francis Egan, chief executive of Cuadrilla, said: “We are . . . pleased to make this second payment direct to local householders, after listening to their views . . . “Our shale gas exploration work continues to progress in Lancashire, helping to strengthen the county’s economy with over £4.7m invested in the county since operations began.”
Protests that have dogged Cuadrilla’s preparatory work in Lancashire for months are continuing. On Monday anti-fracking activists boarded a tanker delivering water, closing one lane of the road running past the company’s Preston New Road site. The Environment Agency has this year warned Cuadrilla over minor breaches of its operating permit.
The company allowed excess water containing silt from its site to run into a local stream but there was no evidence of pollution as a result. Cuadrilla has been asked to improve its water management and store waste material in waterproof skips to prevent leaks. Cuadrilla said: “There have been four incidents that we have proactively reported to the [the Environment Agency] in line with our permits — these were all ‘non-significant’ and in all cases, no action was taken against Cuadrilla and there was no negative impact on the environment.”
Andy Bounds, Manchester
