Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking)
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique used to recover gas and oil from shale rock. The process involves injecting high pressure water, sand and chemicals into the rock to force the gas or oil out of pre-existing or newly drilled channels.
Exploration licences are issued by the Department of Energy and Climate Change There are currently three exploratory licences in place within Test Valley dating back as far as 1983.
These licences are only for the exploration of oil and gas deposits and do not cover extraction. Further planning consents would be required for extraction.
Hampshire County Council is the Minerals Planning Authority responsible for Test Valley, and they have issued a fact sheet giving more information about on-shore oil and gas development in Hampshire. If you have any questions or enquiries, please contact Hampshire County Council direct:
e-mail: info@hants.gov.uk
web: www.hants.gov.uk
tel: 0845 603 5638