No fracking will take place at a site in West Sussex which was at the centre of large-scale protests last year, energy company Cuadrilla has told residents.
Hundreds of anti-fracking activists set up camp last summer after Cuadrilla started exploratory drilling on the outskirts of Balcombe.
Protesters concerned about potential environmental damage feared that the company would eventually go on to hydraulically fracture – or frack – at the site.
Fracking involves high pressure liquid being pumped deep underground to split shale rock and release oil or gas supplies.
Fears have been raised over the potential for small-scale earthquakes and water pollution, and that a drive to exploit new gas reserves will turn the focus away from efforts to develop a low-carbon economy to tackle climate change.
In a letter to Balcombe residents from Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan, he said the rock underneath the drill site, at Lower Stumble, was already naturally fractured, and the company had no intention of fracking there.
He wrote: “The presence of these natural fractures and the nature of the rock means that we do not intend to hydraulically fracture the exploration well at Lower Stumble now or in the future.”
However, although Mr Egan ruled out fracking at the site, Cuadrilla’s association with Balcombe is by no means at an end.
In his letter, published by Balcombe Parish Council, Mr Egan said Cuadrilla had submitted a new planning application to West Sussex County Council to complete flow testing of oil from the exploration well.
Over the summer, the firm drilled horizontally for some 1,700ft through Micrite formation, a type of limestone, at a depth of around 2,350ft below ground level.
Mr Egan wrote: “We were expecting to and did indeed find oil in the Micrite. However, without testing we cannot be sure at what rate the oil may flow to the surface.”
The proposed flow testing operations would be “significantly smaller in scope” than the drilling operations conducted previously, he said.
The main testing operations would last for up to five weeks, after which the well would be closed in and monitored for up to 60 days.
Balcombe still remains a focal point for anti-fracking protesters, months after the encampment which gained headlines worldwide moved on.
On Sunday, more than 400 protesters gathered at a rally there attended by French MEP Jose Bove, a key campaigner from the French anti-fracking lobby.
This week it was revealed that the cost to taxpayers of policing the lengthy anti-fracking protests at Balcombe was nearly £4 million.
Sussex police and crime commissioner Katy Bourne said the bill placed pressure on the police budget when savings were having to be made.
As she revealed the final sum for the policing operation, Ms Bourne said she had submitted an application to the Home Office to recover the cost.
Meanwhile an anti-fracking campaign group has accused Greater Manchester Police of being “out of control“ after what it claimed was a violent arrest of a protester at Barton Moss on Monday.
Sean O’Donnell shot a video of himself being apparently tackled to the ground after he was accused of obstructing a police officer, campaign group Frack Free Greater Manchester said.
Sarah Carmichael from FFGM said: “This is not the first incidence of police violence we have seen at Barton Moss. There have been many occasions that I thought more people might get injured.
“The police have been aggressive to anybody who walks down with the trucks.
“They shout and scream in people’s ears and we have seen an 82-year-old woman forcibly removed from the protest on numerous occasions. They even threw another disabled man down a hill so they could snatch arrest a pregnant woman.
“I have witnessed them arrest people for no reason at all. Before IGas arrived here I always believed we could trust our police but Greater Manchester Police are absolutely out of control.”
Protester Sasha Conway, who lives at the camp, claimed officers behaved “like aggressive thugs and bullies”.
“If they are not pushing elderly and disabled people down the road they are raiding the camp stating that a flare has been fired at their helicopter, but are refusing to provide any proof other than fictional comments made on a website where users are not asked to register,” he said.
“I have been on other protests and witnessed similar behaviour from the police before but many of the local residents who visit are really shocked.
“They cannot believe that the police force could be so heavy handed and act as if they are above the law.”
Frack Free Greater Manchester said it is in talks with solicitors to pursue legal action against GMP on a number of counts.
Earlier this month GMP said the cost of the policing operation at Barton Moss stood at £330,000.
Fracking involves the fracturing of rock with a pressurised liquid to release shale gas, with potentially vast reserves untapped across swathes of the UK.