Balcombe Fracking Operations Suspended

Cuadrilla has withdrawn an application seeking a six-month extension of its oil exploration operations in a Sussex village which has become the centre of protests against fracking.

The company said it has decided to submit a new planning application to cover the flow testing of the horizontal oil exploration well at its site in Lower Stumble, Balcombe, but it would not include additional drilling or any hydraulic fracturing.

"The new application will cover the same well testing that is in the currently permitted activity but will include revised planning boundary lines showing the extent of the horizontal well being tested," a statement said.

"Our original planning application was approved in 2010 with a boundary delineation covering the surface drilling site area.

Many were arrested for aggravated trespass and obstruction

"Our decision to make a new application for the well testing activity, rather than an extension of previously approved activity, is to resolve any potential legal ambiguity around how the planning boundary should be drawn for a subsurface horizontal well.

"As this is a new planning application, the county council will consult with interested third parties and we will have the opportunity for further engagement with Balcombe residents about our well testing plans.

"We will continue doing all we can to conclude our exploration work in a safe, responsible and timely manner."

Some blockaded the London offices of Cuadrilla PR firm Bell Pottinger

Greenpeace energy campaigner Leila Deen said Cuadrilla's plans for Balcombe were a "dog's dinner", adding: "They only recently submitted an application to extend the drilling window, now they've already withdrawn it and admitted they're reassessing the programme.

"It's not yet clear if this is a shift of direction or if the company merely got its sums wrong. Either way, the local council has the opportunity to revisit its previous highly controversial decision to give Cuadrilla the green light in Balcombe.

"The poster-boy for fracking looks like it's in trouble again."

Dame Vivienne Westwood and MP Caroilne Lucas joined the protests

A meeting of West Sussex County Council's planning committee on September 19 has been cancelled following the withdrawal of the application.

Any new application will not go to the planning committee until next year.

Anti-fracking protesters have been camping by the roadside near the test oil drilling site for weeks.

Any new application to conduct fracking at the site must wait until 2014

They said they were concerned "the problem has not gone away".

Balcombe resident Louisa Delpy, a member of the No Fracking in Balcombe Socieity (NoFIBs), said: "We are now in limbo and ask West Sussex County Council urgently to explain the reasons why Cuadrilla must resubmit the planning application and whether testing and flaring has been carried out on the vertical well section.

"We also want to know the current direction and length of the horizontal section of the well, how they can test drill into oil without a flare and how they can operate and test right now without their permit to extract radioactive substances, about which the Environment Agency has maintained a curious silence since public consultation ended."

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