SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE 2 Storage Authorisation Orders

Part II Procedure for making Orders

Preliminary submission of proposals

3

(1)

F1The applicantshall before making the application formally in accordance with paragraph 6 of this Schedule submit F2his proposalsin writing to the Minister.

(2)

The written proposals shall include the name and address of F1the applicantand shall—

(a)

specify by reference to a large-scale map the perimeter of the storage area and of any protective area,

(b)

state the depth or depths below which it is proposed that the Minister’s control over workings and borings is to have effect in the various parts of the storage and protective areas,

(c)

state the nature and volume of the gas which it is proposed to store, and the depths and nature of the stratum in which it is to be stored, and of the strata contiguous to that stratum,

(d)

include information as to the proposed method of operating the storage, including the methods of injecting and withdrawing gas, and

(e)

state what exploratory work has been carried out to prove the proposed storage, and the results obtained from the work.

(3)

The Minister may require F1the applicantto furnish further information in writing concerning F2his proposals.

4

(1)

F3The applicantshall publish in two successive weeks in the Gazette, and in one or more local newspapers circulating in the locality of the storage area, a notice of the submission of the proposals to the Minister, naming a place in the locality where copies of the proposals, and of the accompanying map, can be inspected, describing the surface area of the storage and protective areas, and stating the nature and volume of gas proposed to be stored and the minimum depth below the surface of the ground of the stratum in which it is to be stored.

(2)

F3The applicantshall serve a notice containing all the particulars in the notice published under the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, and such further information as the Minister may direct,—

(a)

on every local planning F4authority, F5every local authority who are not a local planning authority and everyriver authority withinF4authority and every local authority who are not a local planning authority, being, in either case, an authority within whose area any part of the storage area or protective area lies, and

(b)

on all statutory water undertakers within whose F6limits of supplyF6area any part of the storage area or protective area lies, or who are holders of a statutory licence to abstract water within either of those areas, and

F7(bb)

on the Environment Agency if any part of the storage area or protective area is in England, and on the Natural Resources Body for Wales if any part of either of those areas is in Wales, and

(c)

on such other bodies or individuals as the Minister may direct.

5

(1)

The Minister, after taking the proposals into consideration, may refuse to allow F8the applicantto proceed with the proposals, or may allow F8the applicantto proceed with the proposals in a formal application under the following provisions of this Schedule, with or without any modifications specified by the Minister.

(2)

Any such modifications shall not vary the storage area so as to include any area which was not so included in F9the applicant’sproposals submitted to the Minister.

(3)

The Minister shall inform F8the applicantof his decision under this paragraph, and if the decision is to refuse to allow F8the applicantto proceed with the proposals, the Minister shall at the request in writing of F8the applicantfurnish a written statement of the reasons for his decision.