Fracking: A summary of West Sussex County Council’s public event

On Saturday 8 November 2014, West Sussex County Council held an Oil and Gas Exploration and Extraction public event, at which speakers from the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and West Sussex County Council Minerals Planning Authority spoke about the regulatory framework for onshore oil and gas exploration. David Sanderson, a Professor in Tectonics and Geomechanics in Southampton University’s Faculty of Engineering and the Environment also spoke about the issues of exploiting unconventional oil and gas reserves in the UK, with a particular focus on hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’.

The south coast is one of three major regions in the UK known to hold significant reserves of hydrocarbons within shale rock and West Sussex in particular has attracted the interest of a number of oil and gas companies over the last 30 years. In August 2013, opposition to Cuadrilla’s drilling activities in West Sussex town, Balcombe, made the national press.

Opinion at the event was polarised, with little agreement or compromise among attendees. It appeared to be indicative of a general division in the country between the anti-fracking lobby and the pro-industry/government backed side that see potential economic benefit from investing in drilling for shale reserves.

Materials from the event, including Professor Sanderson’s presentation slides, are available on West Sussex County Council’s dedicated Oil and Gas page (see here).