Fracking Update

The recent protests about proposed fracking in Balcombe have raised the profile of this increasingly controversial topic. Companies are exercising extreme caution when it comes to making sure the correct consents are in place due to the ever present threat of judicial review from objectors.  For example, Cuadrilla recently withdrew an application to extend its exploratory drilling operations in Balcombe and will submit a new planning application in order to avoid any potential legal ambiguity around how the planning boundary should be drawn for a subsurface horizontal well.

The Government has consulted on this very issue (i.e. the need to serve notices on every landowner affected by a horizontal drill beneath their land) with the consultation closing on 14 October 2013.