Badger group concern over Shropshire drilling plans

Shropshire Badger Group says there is evidence of badger activity within just 150 feet of the proposed site of an exploratory drilling pad.

A small camp of 'protectors' has spent a month living on the land where Dart Energy wants to drill at Brooklands Farm, Dudleston, as worries about the proposed project grows.

The Shropshire Badger Group says its worries are over the impact on animals in the area.

Sharon Davies-Culham says in the group's objection letter to Shropshire Council: "Members of Shropshire Badger Group have been able to survey both the application site and the surrounding area and I can confirm that two active badgers setts have been identified, one on either side of the application site and each within approximately 150 metres.

"The field signs suggest that the setts are occupied by the same social group; hence the application site is now and, if approved, will most certainly be visited regularly by badgers.

"We understand that where badgers are resident within reasonably close proximity to deep drilling operations, the situation would usually be considered and managed in the same way as 'blasting' operations which require special mitigation measures and monitoring, usually detailed in a 'mission statement' which the applicant has been unable to provide at this stage.

"Without such information, it is not possible to properly consider the welfare of the local badger population nor to ensure that the presence of badgers is managed in such a way that persons working on the site are protected from the possibility of committing criminal offences.

"The only comment by the applicant regarding badgers is that the site will be made safe whenever possible and that approach is completely unacceptable.

"On that basis we are obliged to formally object to this application."

Campaign group Frack Free Dudleston has been at loggerheads with Dart Energy after it submitted a planning application for a temporary coal-bed methane (CBM) exploration borehole near Ellesmere.

Frack Free Dudleston was set up in May and claims allowing Dart Energy to carry out exploratory drilling in the area could open the door for fracking to take place in the future.

Fracking is a highly controversial method of extracting underground gas by using high pressure jets of water.

Supporters say it can lead to a dramatic falls in energy bills, but critics say it is harmful to the environment.

Dart Energy has always denied it has any plans to use fracking for shale gas in the county, even though north Shropshire sits on both coal and shale deposits.

Dart Energy says is is only interested in coal-bed methane.

Nearly 500 objections have been made against the controversial plans.

Peter Reilly, a spokesman for Dart Energy, insists that once the 60-day temporary period is up the site will be restored to its former condition.