Pipeline fears 'brushed aside' by government

The government has been criticised for "brushing aside" concerns over a controverisal pipeline scheme objected to by nearly 17,000 people.

The £60m Peak Cluster project will capture carbon dioxide (CO2) produced at cement and lime plants in the Peak District and transport it via a pipeline in Wirral to be stored under the sea.

Jeff Green, leader of the Conservative group on Wirral Council, said "legitimate fears and concerns for our environment, eco-systems and health and wellbeing have been brushed aside".

His comments came after the government responded to a petition, saying it had no plans to pause the scheme.

It said full independent safety, environmental and legal assessments were carried out for each storage site.

Green said 16,845 people had signed a petition on Parliament's website, requesting the government pause all UK offshore CO2 storage projects until a full independent safety, environmental and legal assessment is completed.

More than 5,503 residents in the West Wirral constituency and 3,238 in the Wallasey constituency, which includes Moreton and the site of the proposed above ground Installation with a 50m emissions tower, signed the petition.

It was also signed by 945 residents in the Chester North and Neston constituency and 787 in Ellesmere Port and Bromborough.

"This is an appalling response from a government which promised, when first elected, to 'listen'," said Green.

He said the decision was "a knee-jerk rejection to the views of so many Wirral residents".

"All of us who are against these plans must now strive even harder to stop Peak Cluster and secure, I hope, another government u-turn," he added.

The matter is due to be discussed at an emergency debate at Wallasey Town Hall on Monday evening.

Green said the authority's Conservative councillors would also be seeking support from all 66 councillors to sign a joint letter to the government requesting the plan is halted.

The government has described the carbon capture and underground storage programme ('CCUS') as the world's largest cement decarbonisation project and said it would generate and secure thousands of jobs.

Responding to the petition, the government said there were no plans to pause the development of UK Offshore CO2 storage projects.

"Government works with regulators and the public to ensure CO2 storage regulations support the safe deployment of CCUS," a spokesperson said.

The government said independent technical analysis it had commissioned showed very high long-term containment confidence, with a typical project expected to retain over 99.9% of injected CO2₂ over a 125-year period.

"Minor leak rates have a low probability of occurring whereas major leak rates have a very low probability of occurring," it added.

"Therefore, the likelihood of damage to the marine ecosystem is considered to be very low."

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