Underground Coal Gasification River Dee

Dear Mr Hanson

Underground Coal Gasification – River Dee

Thank you for you letter dated 22 May 2014. I apologise for the delay in responding to you which is due to an oversight on the part of my Minerals Officer to whom your query was assigned.

Cluff Natural Resources (Cluff) have secured five Deep Underground Coal Gasification Licences in offshore locations across the UK, including the River Dee Estuary in 2013. The River Dee Estuary Licence covers an area of 6953 hectares, in a block extending from the Flintshire coast running between Greenfield to Point of Ayr, across the Estuary to the Wirral Coast running from Caldy to Hoylake. The overwhelming majority of the licence area is located within inshore coastal waters and both Flintshire and Wirral Councils would have limited jurisdiction over activities within the River Dee Estuary, as our powers are limited to land based development only. Any development that is partly or wholly within the inshore waters would require a licence from the appropriate Marine Management Organisation, which is administered by Natural Resources Wales, or in England, is an executive non-departmental public body of DEFRA, and both Flintshire and Wirral Councils would still be consulted.

In the UK, coal is vested in the state, and any operation that affects or is intend to exploit coal requires a licence administered by the Coal Authority, which is a Government Agency maintained under the auspices of the Department of Energy and Climate Change. This licence is only one of a number of other permits and consents that are required to be obtained from statutory regulators before any exploration or exploitation operations can take place. Flintshire County Council would only become formally engaged with an underground coal gasification (UCG) project if and when it is approached by Cluff with respect to the planning process, or is consulted by another regulatory organisation.

In common with petroleum exploration and development licences, licences to develop coal resources normally run for a number of years and it is not uncommon for a considerable time to pass before a licence holder is in a position, if at all, to bring a project forward and commence the process of securing other necessary consents and permits. This is frequently on account of needing to securing land access on which to operate from, and the sequential evaluation and programme of bringing forward other sites within the portfolio held by the licence holder, some of which may offer greater prospects of successful development based on location, geology, quality and quantity of coal, land acquisitions and raising necessary investment.

Individual exploratory drilling wells intended to collect samples of coal have very limited and localised impacts and any planning applications would handled by the respective Council which has responsibility for the land in question. However, an application to operate UCG would have a greater sphere of influence, is much more likely to trigger the requirements for EIA given the National, European and World status of the wildlife designations afforded to the Estuary. In that instance it is much more likely that the respective co-joining Council and bodies such as the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Natural England, Health & Safety Executive and the Marine Management Organisations which share the administrative boundary between England and Wales would be involved. I would expect any application for the operation of UCG to fully address the potential risks of exploitation, not least to address understandable potential public anxiety over how the combustion process is to be controlled, the potential otherwise for subsidence, and safeguards for the environment, water resources and amenity.

The Council has not been informed of the likely timetable for development of the River Dee Estuary UCG licence prospect. Cluff has not engaged with Flintshire County Council Planning Services at any point during the licence application stage and to date they have not approached the Council to undertake pre-application discussions relating to how they propose to work the prospect. The Council holds no information at the present time on when, or where, Cluff is seeking to locate specific operations. However when we do become aware of Cluff’s intentions, we will approach Wirral Council, where appropriate, to make arrangements relating to any matters of common interest, communications and contacts between the two Councils, given the potential for public concern.

In the event that Flintshire County Council is notified by Cluff that a planning application is to be made, we will encourage the Cluff to carry out community engagement, ideally prior to submitting a planning application, in the form of letter drops, pamphlets, website information and drop in exhibitions, but this is ultimately at the discretion of Cluff. If a formal planning application is submitted, the Council will carry out statutory consultation and notification, and the extent of this would be influenced by the location and nature of the particular development applied for, and the potential to cause direct amenity impacts.

To conclude, at the present time the Council has not been approached by Cluff, and therefore we are unaware of their intentions towards UCG exploration and exploitation of the coal in the River Dee Estuary licence block. I can assure you that whether we deal with a specific planning application, or are consulted by another agency responsible for determining an application to develop the licence, my minerals team will thoroughly assess and scrutinise any proposals to develop UCG to ensure that the interests of the amenity and environment are protected.

If you require further information on this and related matters, please do not hesitate to contact me or my Minerals Manager, Mr Gary Nancarrow on the contacts above.

Yours Sincerely

Chief Officer (Planning & Environment)

Copy: Minerals file

Corporate system 019880