Wales Online: Welsh Water pulls out of fracking probe at Llandow

A COUNCIL says it has “had the rug pulled from under its feet” after Welsh Water announced it would not attend a public inquiry into controversial gas-drilling plans. 

Officials and councillors in the Vale of Glamorgan have launched a scathing attack on the company’s decision, claiming the council has been left with no technical support for refusing planning permission to test drill for gas at Llandow Industrial Estate.

A Welsh Government planning inspector will hold the inquiry in May into the plans by Bridgend Coastal Oil and Gas, which opponents fear could open the door to the controversial gas extraction technique known as fracking.

The council’s technical evidence for the inquiry was based solely on concerns expressed by Welsh Water that test drilling may pose a small risk of contamination of its reserve groundwater sites.  MORE