DELEGATED REPORT FOR THE APPROVAL OF COUNTY MATTER PLANNING APPLICATIONS

Authorised by:

Planning Applications Team Leader.……M Hankin……….Date 29/09/2015…………

Team Manager, Development Management/Group Manager, ..……………………………………………Date ………… Planning

Proposal: The plugging and abandoning of an existing borehole and the final restoration of the well site. Location: Misterton 1 Wellsite, Oatlands Farm, Carr Road, Misterton Applicant: Island Gas Limited Application No.: 1/15/00973/CDM

1. Site description – see site plan/photographs

The application site is located at Oatlands Farm, approximately 10km northwest of Gainsborough and 17km south-west of Doncaster. The closest villages are Misterton (3.8km east-northeast) and Gringley on the Hill (2.8km south).

The site is accessible by road from the A631 at Gringley on the Hill. Leaving the A631 along West Wells Lane vehicles travel approximately 200m, after which turning north along Wood Lane (becoming Carr Road). Approximately 3km along Carr Road, the track leading to the applicant site deviates east from Carr Road at Carr Farm Cottage.

The application site itself extends to 0.1ha, bordered to the south and east by agricultural tracks, to the west and southwest by agricultural buildings and to the north by open cultivated agricultural land. The site is currently used as miscellaneous agricultural storage, with a bunded fuel tank in its southwest corner.

The surrounding area is relatively flat, primarily in agricultural use. The application site is slightly elevated in comparison to the surrounding area.

The nearest sensitive receptors to the site are Carr Farm Cottage (approximately 0.8km west) and Carr Farm (approximately 1km north). The Gringley on the Hill footpath No 1 runs in a roughly north-south direction 200m to the west of the site (intersecting the track leading to the site).

The River Idle runs in a west to east direction to the north of the site, with the closest point approximately 1.9km north-west. The site is within Flood Risk Area Zone 3.

Carr Road Drains Complex, a Local Wildlife Site housing water beetles and botanical features of interest approximately 330m to the northwest of the site at its closest point.

4366-6m Photograph 1 – Application Site (viewed from the east)

Photograph 2 – Application Site (viewed from the north)

4366-6m Photograph 3 – Application Site, adjacent building and bunded fuel tank (viewed from the south)

2. Description of proposals

Background

The Misterton 1 borehole, an exploration well to a depth of 560m below ground level, was drilled in late 2010. It consists of a single, vertical borehole. The well’s purpose was to seek Coal Bed Methane suitable for extraction. Due to it being deemed of limited commercial potential, the well site has been temporarily plugged and returned to agricultural storage.

The well, having been drilled by Greenpark Energy Ltd, has passed on in ownership firstly to Dart Energy in 2012 which were then acquired by Island Gas Ltd in 2014.

Proposals

This application is seeking permission to permanently plug and abandon the well and restore the site to allow the continuation of agricultural storage.

The plugging and abandonment of the well would take place in accordance with Oil & Gas UK’s ‘Guidelines for the Suspension and Abandonment of Wells’. This requires all distinct permeable zones penetrated by the well to be isolated from each other, and from the surface. The material used for the barriers has to have very low permeability and sufficient long term integrity.

When the temporary plug is removed a cement evaluation on the existing deep set plug would be carried out to ensure that the existing abandonment works are fully compliant with guidance.

4366-6m The casing would be plugged to the surface and would be cut at the base of the well cellar, which is approximately 4m below ground level, with the well head removed. A plate would be welded over the casing with an identifying mark.

Following the completion of the well, the existing surface ballast would be screened and respreads over the area to create a sub-base. Then a maximum of 300 tonnes of clean road planings would be imported and spread over the area and compacted to a depth of 100-150mm to form a level compacted base. This is required to create a level and stable surface suitable for use by a forklift truck. This area would then be used for the storage of vegetable produce boxes and other miscellaneous agricultural machinery and supplies.

3. Development Plan policies relevant to this decision

Minerals Local Plan

Policy M13.4 (Coalbed Methane Extraction) – production and processing of mine gas from coal seams will be permitted where they are consistent with an overall scheme enabling the full development of the resources and there are no unacceptable impacts.

Policy M13.7 (Reclamation of Oil and Methane Sites) – where permission is granted conditions will be imposed requiring the site to be restored back to its original use as soon as practical once the development is no longer required.

Policy M5.3 (Retention of Haul Roads and Hard Standing) – proposals to retain haul road and hard standing after exploratory drilling will not be permitted except where they provide clear agricultural or other benefit.

Policy M3.3 (Visual Intrusion) prevents development which would have an unacceptable visual impact.

Policy M3.5 (Noise) – seeks to prevent unacceptable noise impact.

Policy M3.8 (Water Environment) – seeks to prevent unacceptable impacts to ground or surface water.

Policy M3.9 (Flooding) – development will not be granted for development which would have an unacceptable impact on flood flows, storage or capacity, or on the integrity or function of flood defences and local land drainage systems.

Policy M3.12 (Highway Safety and Protection) – recommends measures to prevent damage to the highway and prevent mud or other deleterious material from contaminating the public highway.

Policy M3.13 (Vehicular Movements) – looks to ensure that the surrounding highway network can accommodate the vehicular movements generated by the development.

Policy M3.14 (Vehicular Routing) – seeks to ensure suitable routes are used by vehicles associated with proposed development.

Bassetlaw Core Strategy

Policy DM3 (General Development in the Countryside) – supports the re-used of previously developed land in the countryside provided the site has not naturally regenerated, the redevelopment of a site is for a use requiring a rural location and

4366-6m the development will not create significant, or exacerbate existing, environmental or highway safety problems.

Policy DM4 (Design and Character) – promotes high quality design that addresses local character and distinctiveness; architectural quality; public realm; accessibility; amenity and carbon reduction.

4. Consultations

Bassetlaw District Council – No objection.

Gringley-on-the Hill Parish Council – No objection.

NCC (Planning Policy) – Whilst Policy M13.7 of the adopted Minerals Local Plan (MLP) is not directly applicable to the proposal, the overall thrust of the policy, to secure the early restoration of the site, is. Therefore, the principle of the development is supported by the policy. Policy M13.4 of the MLP is also not directly applicable, although its aim to prevent unacceptable impacts is.

Attention is drawn to Policy M5.3 of the MLP regarding the retention of hard standing. The policy states that the retention of hard standing will not be permitted unless there are clear agricultural or other benefits.

EA (Flood Zones) – The development sits within Flood Zone 3 and is therefore at risk of flooding. The operator has confirmed there would be no raising of ground levels. As such, the Agency has no objection from a planning perspective.

The proposal for decommissioning will be carried out in accordance with oil industry guidance and as such compliance with this should be sufficient to negate any risks to controlled waters from the redundant borehole.

NCC (Flood Risk Management Team) – The proposal does not appear to have an impact on flood risk or local drainage therefore there are no comments to make on the application.

NCC (Nature Conservation) – The use of the site has reverted to an area of hard standing/storage. As such, no ecological surveys of the site are required. There are no sensitive or important habitats in the immediate vicinity of the site, the duration is short (c. 5 weeks) and the proposed time is of the works is late summer/autumn. As such no significant impacts on birds or other ecological receptors are anticipated.

NCC (Noise Engineer) – No objection subject to working being restricted to daytime hours.

NCC (Highways) Bassetlaw – No objections subject to conditions relating to routing and a construction method statement.

Police Force Architectural Liaison Officer – No objection.

Health & Safety Executive – No objection raised.

No representations received from Anglian Water Services Limited, Department of Energy & Climate Change.

5. Publicity and representations

4366-6m The application has been advertised by press notice, site notice and neighbour notification in accordance with the County Council’s Adopted Statement of Community Involvement Review. No representations have been received.

Councillor Liz Yates has been notified of the application.

6. Observations

Planning permission is sought to permanently plug and abandon an existing well and restore the site to allow its continued use for agricultural storage, at Oatlands Farm near Gringley on the Hill and Misterton.

Policy

Policy M13.4 of the MLP relates to coal bed methane extraction and seeks to ensure that no unacceptable impacts occur. This policy is not directly applicable in that the proposed development is for the restoration of an existing exploratory borehole. Nevertheless, the purpose of the policy is to prevent development which would have unacceptable impacts. In this regard, the proposed restoration is deemed to meet this policy, subject to the recommended conditions.

Aerial photography demonstrates that the site has had open storage use associated with adjacent agricultural buildings prior to the drilling of the borehole. Policy M13.7 of the MLP seeks to ensure that oil and methane sites are restored back to their original use. The proposal is to restore the site to allow continuation of agricultural storage. In this regard the proposed development meets Policy M13.7.

In restoring the site to hard standing, the proposed development does not appear to comply with Policy M5.3 of the MLP which looks to prevent the retention of hard standing following exploratory drilling. However, as acknowledged above the site has historically been used for storage. As such, to require it to be restored to something other than storage would not comply with M13.7. Furthermore, the area comprises an isolated 0.1ha area of land with access roads to the east and south, and an agricultural building to the west. As such, it would have limited, if any, use for cultivated agriculture. The supporting text to Policy M5.3 highlights that the County Council does not normally wish to allow unnecessary evidence of mineral exploration in the countryside. In this case, the restoration of the site to storage would be in keeping with the existing site use and would not be evidence of mineral exploration.

Policy DM3 of the Bassetlaw Core Strategy (BCS) applies to development in the countryside and sets out a series of criteria for which the re-use of previously developed land would be appropriate. In this case, the proposed development meets this policy as it would be used for a purpose requiring a rural location (i.e. storage of vegetable produce boxes and other miscellaneous agricultural machinery and supplies) and it would not create significant or exacerbate existing environmental or highway safety problems.

Policy DM4 of the BCS relates to the design and character of all development. There is little, if any, scope for architectural merit or design in an open storage area. However, it is recognised that the proposed storage is of a character appropriate to the agricultural nature of the wider area.

Traffic

The site would be accessed from the south and HGVs would pass through Gringley-on-the-Hill from the A631 and along West Wells Lane, Wood Lane and

4366-6m Carr Road off which the site access track is located. This is an existing HGV route for vehicles accessing Polybell Organic Coldstore.

The delivery of plant to the site would involve up to 15 HGV trips (30 movements), with the removal of plant requiring the same. The on-going supply of materials (e.g. cement, water aggregates etc) and the removal of waste material is predicted to result in one HGV trip (2 movements) per day.

The final restoration of the site would result in 300 tonnes of surfacing material delivered in 20 tonne capacity HGVs. This would generate 15 trips (30 movements). In addition, there would be 5 trips (10 movements) required for the delivery and removal of ancillary supplies and items of plant directly related to the final restoration. These movements are anticipated to occur over two days.

There would be light van movements for staff, expected to amount to 4 trips (8 movements). All vehicle movements would take place between 07:00 and 19:00.

Given the vehicle numbers and the duration of the proposed development would not have an adverse impact on the capacity of the highway network. As such, the proposal is in accordance with Policy M3.13 of the MLP.

The NCC Highways Team note that the proposed route to the application site includes predominantly single width roads with limited passing places and as a result there is the potential for HGVs to cause damage to the public highway. As such, conditions are recommended in relation to routing and a construction method statement setting out damage recording and rectifying measures. It is acknowledged that there are other HGV and farm vehicle users of this route so specific highway damage incidents may be difficult to identify to an individual operator. Nevertheless, such a survey would enable the identification of general dilapidation over the 5 week operational period should it occur, and its subsequent rectification. In addition, the application has confirmed their acceptance of such a condition. This approach would be in accordance with Policy M3.12 and M3.14 of the MLP.

Noise

The proposed development would involve the use of a ‘truck mounted work-over rig’. This is anticipated to generate a certain amount of noise. However, the applicant has highlighted that the site is in a relatively isolated agricultural area which frequently experiences short term, elevated levels of noise originating from machinery.

The applicant notes that there are no residential receptors within 750m of the site, that operations would take place during daytime hours (07:00 – 19:00) and that operations should not exceed the background noise level by more than 10dB(A) subject to a maximum 55dB(A) at the nearest sensitive receptors.

The NCC Noise Officer has no objection to the proposal development subject to the proposed hours being controlled. As such, the development is in accordance with Policy M3.5 which seeks to ensure that development does not have an unacceptable noise impact.

Flooding and Water Environment

The proposed development lies within Flood Zone 3, as such, the applicant has undertaken a flood risk assessment. The assessment highlights that the proposed development would be completed in a temporary period of 35 days and all plant involved is mobile and could be moved at short notice. The assessment

4366-6m concludes that the proposals are at a negligible risk of flooding and does not increase flood risk elsewhere.

The proposed development would not result in any ground levels being increased and no additional areas of hard standing being created. The NCC Flood Management Team and the Environment Agency (EA) raise no objection. In addition, the EA note that the decommissioning would take place in accordance with oil industry guidance and this should negate any risks to controlled waters. As such, the development is in accordance with Policies M3.8 and M3.9 which seek to protect ground and surface waters and prevent development which would be vulnerable to flooding, or cause it elsewhere.

Landscape and Visual Impact

The proposed development involves the temporary erection of a ‘truck mounted work-over rig’. When the rig is extended it could measure up to approximately 20 metres in height. Given the relatively flat surrounding topography long distance views of the rig will be possible.

However, the rig would be in place for a maximum of 21 days. As such, the landscape and visual impact that the operational development would have is not considered significant. With regard to restoration the proposal would be used for agricultural storage, as is the case at present and prior to the well being drilled. In this regard there would be no change to the landscape or visual impact. Therefore the development would not be contrary to Policy M3.3 of the MLP, which seeks to prevent development which would have unacceptable visual impacts.

Rights of Way

The Gringley on the Hill Footpath No. 1 crosses the access track approximately 230m to the west of the planning application site. As such, HGV accessing the site would pass over the footpath. Taking into account the limited vehicle numbers associated with the development, the duration of works and the fact that HGV and agricultural vehicles already use this track it is considered that there would be no appreciable disruption to the right of way and the impact would be negligible.

Conclusion

The proposed development would result in the restoration of an existing borehole and there are no unacceptable impacts on the environment or amenity. It is recommended that planning permission is granted subject to conditions.

7. Other Options Considered

The report relates to the determination of a planning application. The County Council is under a duty to consider the planning application as submitted. Accordingly no other options have been considered.

8. Statutory and Policy Implications

This report has been compiled after consideration of implications in respect of finance, the public sector equality duty, human resources, crime and disorder, human rights, the safeguarding of children, sustainability and the environment, and those using the service and where such implications are material they are described below. Appropriate consultation has been undertaken and advice sought on these issues as required.

4366-6m Service user, financial, equalities, safeguarding of children and human resources implications No implications

Crime and Disorder Implications

The site is located in an isolated rural location and is currently used as external storage. There is no proposed change of use following its restoration. There is no visible security associated with the site, however the items currently stored do not appear to be of high value or likely to generate crime. The Police Force have not raised any objection to the development.

Implications for Sustainability and the Environment

The restoration of an existing borehole which currently has no formal restoration proposals would be secured, with associated conditions to minimise impacts on amenity and the environment.

9. Planning Applications Team Leader and Team Manager, Development Management/Group Manager, Planning observations

10. Human Rights Act implications

Relevant issues arising out of consideration of the Human Rights Act have been assessed. Rights under Article 8 (Right to Respect for Private and Family Life), Article 1 of the First Protocol (Protection of Property) and Article 6 (Right to a Fair Trial) are those to be considered. In this case, however, there are no impacts of any substance on individuals and therefore no interference with rights safeguarded under these articles.

11. Statement of Positive and Proactive Engagement

In determining this application the Minerals Planning Authority has worked positively and proactively with the applicant by entering into pre-application discussion; assessing the proposals against relevant Development Plan policies; all material considerations; consultation responses and any valid representations that may have been received. This approach has been in accordance with the requirement set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.

12. Recommendation

Planning permission is granted subject to the following condition(s) under delegated powers:

1. The development hereby permitted shall be begun within 3 years from the date of this permission.

Reason: To comply with the requirements of Section 91 (as amended) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

2. The Minerals Planning Authority (MPA) shall be notified in writing of the date of commencement at least 7 days, but no more than 14 days, prior to the commencement of the development hereby permitted.

4366-6m

Reason: To assist with the monitoring of conditions attached to the planning permission and avoidance of doubt.

3. The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following plans and documents:

a) Drawing Ref: MST-03A titled ‘Misterton 1 Site Location’ – received by the MPA on 30 June 2015; b) Drawing Ref: MST-05A titled ‘Indicative Site Layout’ – received by the MPA on 30 June 2015; c) Planning Application Forms – received by the MPA on 30 June 2015; d) Supporting Statement – received by the MPA on 30 June 2015; e) Plan showing DR12/26P-60/24-900 showing proposed rig dimensions – received by the MPA on 30 June 2015; f) Flood Risk Assessment – received by the MPA on 30 June 2015.

Reason: For the avoidance of doubt.

4. Except in the case of emergency when life, limb or property are in danger (such instances which are to be notified to the MPA within 48 hours of their occurrence) no operational works or associated deliveries shall take place outside of the hours of 07:00 – 19:00 Monday to Friday and 07:00 – 13:00 on Saturdays. No operational works or associated deliveries shall take place on Sundays, Public or Bank Holidays.

Reason: In the interests of public amenity and in compliance with Policy M3.5 of the Nottinghamshire Mineral Local Plan (MLP).

5. Before any development commences a construction method statement shall be submitted to, and approved in writing by, the MPA. The construction method statement shall include the following:

a) The HGV route to and from the site, from the A631. The approved route shall be issued to all HGV drivers. b) A condition assessment of the public highway between the junction of the A631 / West Wells Lane and the access into the development site prior to commencement of construction works; c) Measures which will be taken to record damage, if any, that has been caused to the route as a result of HGV associated with the proposed works; d) Measures which will be taken to make good any damage to the route which has occurred as a result of the works.

Development shall thereafter be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

Reason: To maintain and prevent damage to the public highway in accordance with Policy M3.12 of the MLP.

13. Informatives/notes to applicants

1. Your attention is drawn to the Standing Advice from The Coal Authority dated 1 January 2015 set out below. (This does not need typing onto the decision notice, as it automatically puts on the standing advice on to the decision notice).

4366-6m 2. The applicant’s attention is brought to the letter from the Environment Agency, dated 23 July 2015, particularly in relation to a Section 199 Notice and the Water Resources Act.

Report prepared by Oliver Meek

Date: 28 September 2015

4366-6m