If you want to get started on your objection straight away, please click on this link for a downloadable letter you can customise and personalise.
KM8 PLANNING APPLICATION – OBJECTION LETTER
Otherwise, please keep reading …
Third Energy have applied to frack their existing KM8 well at the company’s Kirby Misperton well-site. You can view the application documents on the NYCC Online Planning Register – Application No: NY/2015/0233/ENV.
What exactly have Third Energy applied to do?
The planning application consists of five separate phases:
1 Pre-stimulation Workover This is the preparation stage, where they get the existing KM8 well ready for fracking. Duration: 2 weeks (working 24 hours a day)
2 Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation/Well Test This is a ‘test-frac’, or ‘flow-test’, which involves fracking at five different depths to see if the Bowland Shale will produce gas in commercially viable quantities. Duration: 2 weeks (working 24 hours a day)
3 Production Test This will check gas flows over a longer period of time (up to 90 days), with the gas piped to Knapton Generating Station. Duration: 13 weeks (working 24 hours a day)
4 Production If the production test is successful, the KM8 well will be permanently hooked up to the existing production equipment and commercially produce gas. Duration: up to nine years.
5 Well Abandonment and Restoration When the well reaches the end of its life, it will be decommissioned and restored. Duration: 6 weeks
I thought they told us that the were only applying to do an eight-week test-frac, not nine years of production.
That’s an interesting point. You must have read Third Energy’s Residents’ Brochure or their Public Consultation Booklet, which were given to local residents earlier in the year – in which a nine-year production phase was never mentioned.
Hmm. That’s a bit odd. Is there anything else that’s different in the planning application?
Actually, quite a lot of what they told us earlier in the year isn’t the same as what’s ended up in the planning application.
One very big difference is that they claimed there would only be 266 HGV movements during the first eight weeks, but in the Planning Application there are actually 910 HGV movements, plus 504 LGV/car movements – making a total of 1,414 traffic movements in total.
You can read a fully referenced analysis of the traffic movements on our KM8 Traffic Movements page.
That’s quite a big difference. Third Energy don’t sound like very good neighbours.
You might say that, we couldn’t possibly comment. However, you might like to see our analysis of the key differences between the consultation documents and the planning application on our Good Neighbours? page.
How can I object to this planning application?
Emails should be sent to: km8application@northyorks.gov.uk
Please put the application number in the subject line: NY/2015/0233/ENV
You can write your objection in the body of the email, or attach it as a Word Document.
VERY IMPORTANT – if you object by email, you must still include your full name and postal address. Objections without a postal address will not be considered.
You can also object by post. Please send your letter to:
Vicky Perkin, Planning Services, County Hall, Racecourse Lane, Northallerton, DL7 8AH.
Please put the application number in body of the letter: NY/2015/0233/ENV
Again, you must include your surname, first name/initials and full postal address, including postcode. Anonymous comments will not be considered.
Please ask for your comments to be included on the County Council Planning Register at the beginning or end of your objection.
You can also ask for your name, address, signature and other personal information to be removed before they post it on the website, so that these details are not available to be viewed by anyone else.
When’s the deadline for objections?
The official deadline has passed, but as the NYCC has asked Third Energy for more information, there is still no date for this to be decided. The council is legally obliged to consider all comments up to a week before the meeting itself, so you can still object to this application – but the sooner you do it, the better!
Better get on with it, then. How do I start?
You can either follow our guidelines by continuing to read this webpage, or you can download this guideline template letter, which includes the same information in a condensed form, which you can easily customise and personalise. Just click on the link below …
KM8 PLANNING APPLICATION – OBJECTION LETTER
What can I say at the beginning of the objection?
We suggest you begin by saying that you are writing to object to the application, and add a couple of sentences about yourself, e.g. where you live, what you do for a living, what your interest is in the application, why you are concerned, your connection to Ryedale, etc.
If you live near the KM8 well-site, please state what it is about the application that you are concerned about, e.g. the impact on your village, traffic, the impact on local roads/landscape, effect and the local economy, etc. You could also say something about how worried you are about how this work will impact on your daily life.
If you live elsewhere in Ryedale or North Yorkshire, you can mention the wider effects of fracking would have on the region, particularly on its reputation as a top tourist destination and the effect extra traffic would have on the road system.
If you live in another part of the UK (or in another country) you can mention any connection you have with North Yorkshire – for example, you might visit the area regularly on holiday, or because you have family or friends in the area. You can also consider the precedent this may set throughout the rest of the country should this be approved, and whether or not it would make you more or less likely to visit the area on holiday if the proposals are approved and developed.
How important is it that I personalise my objection?
Very important – personal objections that are individually written will gain more consideration from planning authorities. So please try to put things in your own words if possible. And a hand-written letter still makes an impact if you are the kind of person who likes writing letters with pen and paper!
Local knowledge and experience are also very important when campaigning against a planning application. So if you have any experiences to relate regarding living near a gas well-site (such as noxious smells, previous disruption, a negative affect on your health, work going on outside permitted hours, or anything else that has had any impact on your daily life, no matter how large or small), please include this in your objection. This sort of information is vital to help the Planning Officer make her recommendation.
Also, if you have had any other direct experience or problems when dealing with Third Energy – for example, you have been to any of their consultations or talks, or have had any direct contact with the company and its employees, then please include this in your objection.
Equally important are any instances that have occurred where you have not been kept informed about the development of the site. Alternatively, you may be aware of differing information being distributed by the company, either verbally or in print, such as those listed in the Good Neighbours? page. Please include any documentation – e.g. emails, leaflets, photographs, etc. – that can back up your comments, as this sort of information is helpful for the Planning Officer to decide whether or not the company can be trusted to undertake the work that it has applied for.
Finally, if you have researched any of the many facts, or read any interesting reports on fracking, or can cite any practices or instances where fracking has harmed communities that has caused you concern, please include these in your objection too.
What are the key points I can include in the main body of my objection?
You can then make some or all of the following points. If possible, please put them in your own words, perhaps by rephrasing the points in your own way or using the information in the bullet points to form a paragraph. You can also change the order of the points if you prefer, or choose the ones that you feel most concerned about. You don’t have to include all the points, and please make additional points you feel would support your objection, as described above.
TRAFFIC
NOISE
VISUAL IMPACT
EFFECT ON WILDLIFE
PRODUCTION PHASE
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
GROUNDWATER POLLUTION RISKS
GROUNDWATER MONITORING
AIR POLLUTION RISKS
DISTANCE FROM WELL-SITE TO VILLAGE
JOBS AND TOURISM
EFFECT ON HOUSE PRICES
CUMULATIVE IMPACT
EFFECT ON OTHER KEY RURAL ECONOMY INDUSTRIES
PRECEDENT
LOCAL OPPOSITION BY ELECTED BODIES
NORTH YORKSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE JOINT PLAN
THE RYEDALE LOCAL PLAN
If there are other fracking-related issues you want to mention, then please do so, particularly any first-hand experience you have had of fracking, gas production or dealing with Third Energy, and any information on the dangers of fracking that you would like to share with the Planning Committee. The more personalised your objection is, the more powerful it will be.
And at the end of your objection, please remember to ask the County Council to reject the application.
Done. Anything else I can do to help?
Third Energy are 97% owned by Barclays Bank. Please email Barclays Chairman John McFarlane to ask him to divest from fracking by going to this Friends of the Earth action page. If you can personalise the email, it will have more impact.
We are also raising money to hire expert consultants to fight the application. Please donate via our KM8 fighting fund page.
And if you haven’t heard about the 14th round of PEDL Licences, which will open up most of Yorkshire, Lancashire and many other parts of the country to potential fracking, then check out our PEDL Licences page.
Finally, please share this page on Facebook and Twitter using the links below.
IT ALL STARTS WITH JUST ONE WELL …