Crawberry Hill well site, near Beverley in East Yorkshire, is the location of a deep well for petroleum exploration and testing.

It was decommissioned at the end of 2015, and the surface of the site restored to field in 2016.

The well is 2,700m deep, right down to the Bowland Shale.

The site is on Ellerington’s farm.  Rathlin Energy have a lease with Ellerington which includes the right to lease the land for up to 50 years.

Location

Crawberry Hill well site is just west of Beverley between Walkington and Bishop Burton.

Walkington Heads
Beverley
HU17 8RU

OS map reference SE 97669,37720

Directions

In the middle of Walkington there’s a crossroads, with the Dog and Duck pub.
Head north up Northgate, with the Dog & Duck on your right, and continue right up to the t-junction.
At the t-junction, turn left.
Go down there for a couple of kilometres, under the power lines, and the well site is on the right.

 

Planning Permission

Rathlin Energy first applied for planning permission near Crawberry Hill in September 2011.
Although permission was granted, the agreement with the landowner fell through, and nothing happened on that site.
So they moved a couple of hundred metres down the road to a different farm (Ellerington) and submitted a new, very similar, planning application in Jun 2012.  This is the current site.

Sept 2011 – Planning Application 11/04441/STPLF – This application was Approved, but never used.
There were a couple of hundred comments objections (some can be viewed under the Comments tab, and more under the Documents tab).
Deferred at this meeting:  Planning Committee Minutes 24 Nov 2011
Approved at this meeting:  Planning Minutes 12 Jan 2012

Jun 2012 – Planning Application 12/02945/STPLF
This application applies to the current site.

The Planning Officer’s Report can be found in p329-365 of the
Planning Committee Agenda 13 Sep 2012
(downloaded from the Planning Committee page of the ERYC website)
and the minutes of the meeting where it was approved are here, p6-7:
Planning Committee Minutes 13 Sep 2012 Crawberry Hill

The Planning Conditions, including “No Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking)” (Condition 15) are in the Notice of Decision:

First click: Planning Documents, then: Notice of Decision

Although the mini-frack/mini fall off test uses hydraulic pressure to fracture shale rock, neither Rathlin Energy nor East Riding of Yorkshire Council consider it a breach of Condition 15 (No Hydraulic Fracturing) because it does not involve horizontal drilling, nor sand to prop open the cracks.

The Planning Documents also include:

(you need to click Planning Documents first, then the links below should work)

Hydrogeological Risk Assessment
Ecological Report
Traffic Management Plan
Comments from neighbours (there were also a couple of hundred of these in the Sept 2011 application)

Planning Permission for the site was due to expire on 5th Nov 2014.
An extension for 18 months (12 months testing, 6 months site clean-up) was granted by the Planning Committee, 11 votes to 1.

Aug 2014 – Planning Variation 14/02622/STVAR

Planning Officer’s Report (recommending approval) can be found in p18-56 of the
Planning Committee Agenda 2 Oct 2014_(extract)
(downloaded from the Planning Committee page of the ERYC website)

The Planning Conditions appear in the Notice of Decision:

First click: Planning Documents, then: Notice of Decision

Planning Meeting Minutes

Video of part of the Planning Committee that granted the planning extension, 11-1 in favour. 2nd Oct 2014.

 

Environment Agency Permits

EA Permit Application – Feb 2014

01 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – Front Cover and Contents
02 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – B9 Application Form
03 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – Non Technical Summary – Includes a summary of the testing program, including a mini-frack on the Bowland Shale: p12, 4.3.2.1 Mini Fall-Off Test within Upper Visean/Lower Namurian

04 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – Site Plans
05 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – Waste Management Plan
06 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – Site Condition Report
07 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – Environmental Risk Assessment
09 EPRA – Crawberry Hill – Planning Decision Notice
Covering Letter 030214 Rathlin EA Permit CH
Drilling Muds

EA Permits Issued – May 2014

EA Permit (installation & mining waste operation) & Decision Document – Issued, May 2014
EA Permit (radioactive substances activities)

EA Permit Variation application – April 2015

Rathlin Energy has been collecting rainwater on site (in a rusty, old, leaky tank) and then periodically removing it by tanker.  These are the orange tankers from Total Environmental Technologies.

This application to vary their permit seems to be asking for permission to dump the water on the land instead.  The consultation closed 27th May.  Meanwhile they’re still negotiating with the EA, who is taking enforcement action against them, on how to flare waste gas on site without leaks,

Application Forms
Non Technical Summary
Management System Policy Manual
Hydrogeological Risk Assessment
Surface Water Managment Plan
from EA consultation page

 

Site Visits & Reports

Site visits are listed below, along with any reports to which we have access.  Please let us know if you become aware of any additional visits not listed.

 

Health & Safety Executive Site Visits

No site visits.

 

East Riding of Yorkshire Council Site Visits

15th April 2014
Shirley Ross with the Council’s Environmental Protection and the Highway Control team.

26th(?) Sept 2014
It is believed Enforcement Officers visit site.

Additional information from ERYC:

Site visits took place to both sites by the Case Officer Mrs Shirley Ross when the planning applications were being processed by the Council. This is standard practice on all applications and allows the case officer to familiarise themselves with the proposed site and wider surroundings.

The officer has produced site notes and detailed Committee Reports when the planning applications at both Crawberry Hill and West Newton were being processed and these are available on line. No further monitoring reports have been produced by the officer.

Environment Agency Site Visits

3rd Sept 2014 – no breaches.
EA Report – installation CAR REDACTED
EA Report – waste activity CAR REDACTED

Notice for EA reports: Contains Environment Agency information © Environment Agency and database right.

Community Liaison Committee Meeting Minutes

Rathlin Energy likes to boast of the amount of community engagement meetings it has held, but what they don’t tell you is that the Community Liaison Committee Meetings are closed to the public, and not even interested, silent observers are admitted (Refused Entry).  In September 2014 when they controversially applied for a planning extension at Crawberry Hill there was no consultation whatsoever with local communities.

Rathlin Energy even removed all but the most recent minutes of the meetings from their website.  Perhaps they lack the resources?  Not to worry, we’re happy to host them on Rathlin Energy’s behalf.  Here they are.

2012 02 27 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2012 04 17 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2012 06 12 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2012 08 07 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2012 09 25 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2012 10 30 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2012 11 20 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2013 01 08 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2013 02 12 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2013 03 21 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2013 04 16 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2013 05 21 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2013 09 10 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2013 11 07 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2014 02 25 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2014 05 19 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2014 09 17 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2014 11 27 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2015 09 21 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH
2016 02 02 Rathlin Community Liaison Committee Meeting CH