Believe it or not, Rathlin Energy’s planning application for an exploratory well at Ballinlea is still live.

Rathlin Energy Ltd, through their agent, Belfast-based RPS Group Planning Consultants, have still not provided sufficient, adequate, information to the planners, for them to be able to make a determination on whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will be necessary for decision-making in this planning application.

The planners wrote to the company in November requesting significant additional information: Letter from DOE to RPS – 7 Nov 2013. They have since issued two extensions to the initial timeframe, with the latest deadline being 13th March 2014: Letter from Planning to RPS 15 Jan 2014.

The following documents were received from Rathlin Energy, via their agents, just before Christmas 2013:

• A partially updated Operations Summary
• An Environmental and Waste Management Plan (minus appendices), and
• A Drawing Issue Sheet.

More information is to come. Any new objections or concerns you may have about the information provided in these documents will be considered in the planning decision process, so please have a look and see whether there are specific objections you’d like to raise with the planning authority.

If so, please email them to: mineralsenquiries@doeni.gov.uk

or post to

Mr Hamilton
Principal Planning Officer
Strategic Planning Division
Millenium House
17-25 Great Victoria Street
Belfast
BT2 7BN

Do you think this scale of project warrants an EIA? The legislation is here.

Once the Planners have all of the requested information from RPS/Rathlin Energy, they will have four weeks in which to determine whether an EIA is required. The public should also have some weeks to consider the new information provided by the company, and an opportunity to comment on that information, in March/April.