THE head of planning at a council asked an oil drilling company for help in responding to questions from councillors about their own project, the Irish News has learned.
In an unusual development, Paul Duffy, the head of planning at Mid and East Antrim Council, contacted the company behind plans for an oil well at Woodburn Forest for advice on how to answer councillors' concerns.
Three councillors had asked the council a total of six questions about InfraStrata's plans:
- in relation to permitted development rights
- on the council's decision to change the use of land from catchment to exploration for fossil fuels
- on the results of testing for noise and water quality
- on concerns about nearby abandoned salt mines
- about the level of insurance protection
- and whether more than one well would be drilled
One of the councillors said he was still waiting for the answers and found Mid and East Antrim's approach "unacceptable."
Last Friday the council agree to re-examine disputed issues following a High Court action seeking to secure an interim order to stop the exploratory drilling work at the forest near Carrickfergus.
Environmental protesters have set up a camp on the edge of the site with one man arrested last week after he attempted to stop drilling by chaining himself to a crane.
Among correspondence seen the Irish News is an email sent to InfraStrata chief executive Andrew Hindle by Mr Duffy last September.
He wrote seeking advice: "Below are six questions raised by a member of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council in relation to the proposed exploratory drilling proposed at Woodburn Forest, Carrickfergus."
And asked InfraStrata: "Please advise if you have any comments you wish to make in respect to any matter raised."
Bizarrely, Mr Duffy also appears to ask InfraStrata if it is appropriate for the council to answer the questions.
"Can these six questions be looked into by MEA and responded to?" he asks the drilling company.
On one of the points raised, Mr Duffy asked for InfraStrata's views on the criteria under which the council accepts land use change to exploration for fossil fuels.
In a separate question, he requested the company's opinion on whether council "agrees with the results stating what the water wells in the vicinity of InfraStrata's well site were tested for."
Independent councillor Jim Brown, who was one of the elected representatives to pose questions about the project to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, said the council "had no business" approaching InfraStrata to "get these answers."
Mr Brown said: "I had asked a series of questions that weren't - and still haven't been - answered.
"I had been asking for the council's perspective on the plans. The fact that the council has gone to a non-independent third party for views is not acceptable.
He added: "If I had done this, as a councillor, there would be questions being raised. It is not on."
The councillor, who has represented the Carrick area for over three decades, said he believed that the proposal had been presented as "a fait accompli."
"Because of that, I asked these questions. I have expressed my concern about the whole way the thing is being dealt with. This news hasn't given me any more confidence," he said.
"We are not getting council's opinion here, we are getting InfraStrata's. The objectors weren't given their opportunity to be heard."
Mr Brown added: "This is a back door method of giving InfraStrata an opportunity to be heard and it turns democracy on its head."
A spokesman for Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said it had "requested the information from InfraStrata on account of them being the developer of the project."
