TAG meeting on the Canatxx gas storage planning application in the Little Theatre on Monday, January 12, 2004
The chairman (Howard Phillips) said he was pleased to see such a wonderful attendance, and he welcomed two of the Staina Ward councillors, Russell Forsyth and Ramesh Gandhi. The hall was full to capacity, with people sitting on the steps and standing along both sides. The foyer was also full. Stewards said up to 100 people were outside, and were told not to allow anyone else into the building because of health and safety regulations
The secretary (Jim Stansfield) reported that he had received apologies for absence from the two MPs, Hilton Dawson, and Joan Humble, who were both in London on Parliamentary duties. Other apologies were from Councillor Keith Tebbs, who had a prior engagement, and Councillors, Condron, Lees and Twizell, who were attending a Labour group meeting.
The chairman read a letter from Mr Hilton Dawson (attached here).
The chairman thanked supporters for distributing more than 7,000 leaflets in Thornton. He said Wyre Borough had arranged further gas meetings at 7pm on January 29 in the Little Theatre; on January 28 at St Aidan’s School, Preesall, and on February 3rd in the United Reform Church, Fleetwood, and by the Protect Wyre Group on Tuesday, January 20, in St Aidan’s Church, and on Thursday, January 22 at Fleetwood High School both at 7.30pm
He said this issue was the most momentous that had arisen during this generation.
Mr Haworth, a local solicitor asked who was underwriting Canatxx. It was a limited company and might well become insolvent. He would like to know what would happen then.
Ian Mulroy, secretary of Protect Wyre Group, said there had been a myth about the Canatxx intention, which originally was thought to be that the gas would be stored in the old salt mines. But it had always been their intention to put the gas in pods drilled under the estuary. When he attended a meeting of TAG, and no one seemed to know anything about the gas proposals, he suggested the formation of Protect Wyre Group to share the costs and speak with one mind in local opposition to the scheme. “We have the potential to represent 70,000 population.” It was formed from the Protect Rural Wyre Group, Thornton Action Group, Fleetwood Civic Society and Fleetwood Hotel and Guesthouse Association and the Poulton Civic and Historical Society. Then newly-formed Poulton Residents’ Association had now joined the group. “We are concerned about the damage threat to our community, both financially and to tourism.”
On the question of property devaluation, he said it was claimed that house prices had not dropped at Hornsea, where the only land-based gas storage scheme was operating. But there it was stored 6,000ft deep, and near a village so small that if you blinked you would miss it. A house sale in Preesall recently fell through because the purchaser read about the gas scheme.
Mr Haworth said his firm had a client ready to buy a house in the Bourne area in the past three weeks, but changed their minds after reading about the Canatxx proposal, and bought instead at Whiteholme.
Mr Mulroy said he was not aware of any plans by Canatxx to underwrite their plans. At a guess, if you had 50,000 homes within three miles of the site, with an average value of £120,000, and these were devalued by 25pc, it could mean a bill of £1.2 billion. He asked what would happen when Canatxx had finished with their pods after 25 to 30 years. Do they walk away and leave them to collapse? “We should be asking these questions to the DTI or the county council
Councillor Vivien Taylor, the Cabinet portfolio holder for resources with Wyre Borough Council, said the council were certainly not under-writing the scheme. She said she was now debarred from voting on any decision the council might take about the application because “I have let my mouth run free.” Canatxx had been working on the scheme for 10 years, but only now had they submitted their application. Wyre councillors could not comment on it because they would also be barred from voting. “Your councillors will represent you as you want them to. They will listen to you comments and have a chance to vote at the appropriate time.” But Wyre Council was not the mineral rights authority. They were “consultees.” The application could be called in by the deputy prime minister (loud groans). She urged people to get in their objections to the County Council before the January 31 deadline.
Bill Scott, of the River House in Skippool, said he realised the application would got to the deputy prime minister, but what was the time scale?
Bill Remington asked if houses lost value, would the council put up the council tax? “When you next vote for your MP and councillors, let them know where you stand.”
Mr Mulroy said 13,000 letters were sent to Cheshire County Council when a similar scheme was proposed down there. Protect Wyre Group had arranged for 25,000 leaflets to be printed and circulated, plus another 10,000 in the Over Wyre Focus. He urged people to send in their objection individually, and not to sign petitions. A petition counted as only one objection. He assured the meeting that the scheme was not a “done thing.”
A questioner said he was sure Canatxx would be making all sorts of representations about the benefits the scheme would bring to the area.
Mr Mulroy: They are proposing a number of benefits. They say “you might lose 10 jobs on the caravan site, and gain 15 on the site. A net gain of five jobs.” They were also saying that Wyre Council might benefit from extra rates income. But the biggest of all was that it was in the national interest, they say. That is why we have to concentrate on the DTI to blow it out of the water. Canatxx had a plan for build a power station at Fleetwood, across from the salt fields where gas could be stored to feed it. It was to be a model for the rest of the world. When the power station idea went, Canatxx said they had plans to sell gas to Ireland. Is there any ‘national interest” there? Denis Volter has himself said this is purely a commercial venture.
Mrs Margaret Verity, of Burn Naze Residents’ Association, said the area round the ICI works faced a “double whammy”. They had endured years of pollution, the site was heavily contaminated, and now there were fears of a gas explosion.
A questioner asked about plans to evacuate the area should there be a gas leak. Mr Mulroy said he had seen no costings to cover any evacuation plan.
QUESTION: How close are the pods to the brine wells?
Mr Mulroy: They will have to drill to find where the salt is. The good news is that the pipes will be drilled at an angle from the riverbank to the pods under the estuary, which would take the pods away from the brine wells. The bad news is that this brings the pods nearer to Fleetwood. And I have not heard of anywhere else in the world where they have not been drilled at an angle when storing gas underground. The Kansas law says they have to be no nearer than three miles of a municipal settlement. You have to wonder why an American company is flouting an American law here in the UK.
QUESTION: I worked at the ICI for more than 20 years. What expertise is being brought in to advise the council so they can make a judgment on our behalf?
Coun Taylor: We have specialists within the planning and environment departments, and there are specialists within the county council.
A questioner asked about Lancaster University being close to hand to provide one source of expertise.
Mr Mulroy said Canatxx could invest up to £125 million on the project. The leader of the county council had told him they had a pot of money for such a problem to hire expertise. After the Hutchison (Kansas) disaster, laws were brought in to determine the distance between gas storage and a municipal community. There was no law in the UK to cover underground gas storage. “We will be asking John Prescott and the DTI to look at a moratorium about safety aspects for underground gas storage.”
A questioner said he had considerable experience about gas fields, having worked in the industry. He considered the Wyre scheme a very dangerous proposal because he had never heard about gas being stored as shallow. One solution might be to use a gas storage facility in the North Sea that was no longer required. As the gas ran out, there would be a lot of empty gas fields in the southern North Seas and possibly Morecambe Bay.
The chairman: Apparently the need is to get gas into the system quickly when it is required. We are also told the gas needs to be filtered and clean. I don’t buy the arguments. And more than 60pc of the gas from the North Sea fields was sold to Europe last year. Yes, there will be a shortage here if we continue to export it. And there are plenty of other ways of creating electricity without using as. This is all about profit.”
Mr Rimmington: In the recent gas explosion in China, 191 people died, 31,000 were made homeless and 9,000 suffered respiratory illness. Can Blackpool Victoria Hospital deal with 9,000 respiratory cases in a night? There are other way to get round the problem. Why not grants for solar panels, which with new technology don’t necessarily require sunshine?
QUESTION: How stable is this site? What will happen to our roads Over Wyre, and Shard Bridge? Who will foot the bill for repairs?
Coun Taylor said the large cranes already brought in had caused sewage pipes to crack. It was estimated there would be 150 vehicle movements a day.
Mr Mulroy: I don’t know of any plans from Canatxx to pay compensation for ground movement cracks in homes or damaged sewage pipes, other than a bold statement that they will recompense any damage.
Asked how many other gas storage sites were operating in the UK, he said he knew only of Hornsea, but there were four other proposed sites. If all were completed, Transco would not be able to handle all the available gas on the national grid.
Coun Taylor said Wyre Councils were not aware of any benefit from a business rate from the storage site.
A unanimous show of hands approved TAG’s action so far, and another unanimous show of hands gave Protect Wyre Group approval to represent Thornton residents in opposing the scheme.
Mr Phillips said that, to sum up, the support shown to TAG had heartened its members. “There is great support in Thornton. The gas storage proposals don’t just affect Over Wyre. They affect everyone in the borough. Get off your letters of objection to the county council.. Individually. Tell your neighbours to do the same. But don’t lose any sleep over it. There is great public optimism; the strength of public opinion cannot be ignored. Together we can beat Canatxx but we need your help. We can get thousands of objections.”
He said objections collected that night could be sent in bulk to the county council, and announced that a cheque for £500 had been received from Broadwater Caravan Camp, and another for £100 from Wardleys Caravan holiday Camp, both owned by the Partington Group. The cheques were towards the Protect Wyre Group’s cost of printing the leaflets and as an appreciation for the time and effort its members were spending. The chairman said the gifts, which were unsolicited, were most generous. Other donations of smaller amounts had been received.
A collection at the door realised £477.76. The chairman said that after the cost of hiring the hall the balance would be available for the Protect Wyre Group.
The meeting closed at 9.10pm
Howard Phillips
Chair
Thornton Action Group
66 Lawsons Road
Thornton- Cleveleys
Lancs
FY5 4DD
January 11th 2004
Dear Howard,
Planning Application No2/03/1455
2 million ton underground gas storage facility
Preesall saltfield.
Thanks very much for your invitation to your public meeting at Thornton Little Theatre on January 12th. Congratulations on holding this event and giving local people the opportunity to discuss their concerns.
I am delighted that Thornton Action Group are taking a prominent role in the Protect Wyre Group’s campaign on this issue. I have absolutely no doubt that your message to ‘Say no to gas storage now’ is both responsible and correct. There are far too many questions and uncertainties about this matter to simply allow it to go ahead.
I am very sorry that I am unable to attend your meeting because I have to both speak and vote in the second reading debate on the Housing Bill in the Commons on Monday evening. I would be extremely grateful if you would read out this letter as my contribution to your meeting. In particular I’d like to make the following points :
1. Over the coming years the United Kingdom will become more reliant on the use of natural gas and within a short time will have to become a net importer of this material. There is no doubt that there will be a need for major storage facilities for gas.
2. Energy policy and planning processes are separate functions. No-one should be in any fear that an important national interest will preclude the proper assessment of planning, environmental and safety considerations. It is important that no-one who is concerned about this matter is taken in by the cynical views expressed by some that this matter is already a ‘fait accompli’.
Nothing is decided and every individual who wishes to make representations should do so now either by way of their own letter or by using one of the excellent leaflets produced by the Protect Wyre Group. I myself will be doing both.
3. The crucial issue is whether this particular site is suitable for the purpose proposed by Canatxx. The basic objection I’ll be making is that it is far too close to significant population centres, that there are significant question marks about the stability of nearby abandoned brine wells, that the discharge of 80 million litres of brine per day over 10 years into the Irish Sea is environmentally unacceptable and that the development will adversely impact upon a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
4. I am quite sure that the most important concern is about the safety of storing up to 2 million tons of natural gas within 3 miles of 70,000 people. I have asked Canatxx to attend a public meeting to address these issues and I have also invited the Health and Safety Executive. So far neither of these bodies have responded positively. In any case I do not believe that the ordinary planning process can address the concerns about safety in the thorough, open and expert way that is undoubtedly required. I have written to the Deputy Prime Minister to ‘call in’ this application and institute a public inquiry. Anyone who makes an objection at this stage would have the right to be heard at that Inquiry.
I will be copying this letter to everyone who has contacted me about this issue and to the local media and I’ll be attending Wyre Borough Council’s meeting at Thornton Little Theatre on January 29th .
All the best,
Hilton Dawson M.P.