Wirral strikes down Peak Cluster access request

While the decision to refuse the pipeline permission to conduct surveys on council-owned land was unanimous, it will likely only serve to delay the delivery of Progressive Energy’s carbon capture scheme.

During a meeting on Wednesday, Councillors acknowledged that they were simply making the Peak Cluster pipeline harder to build rather than blocking it.

However, they were adamant that refusing the license was the correct decision, with Wirral Council Leader Cllr Paula Basnett thanking councillors “for doing the right thing” after the vote.

Led by Progressive Energy, Peak Cluster seeks to build a more than 200-kilometre long underground pipeline between cement and lime plants in Derbyshire and Staffordshire and Spirit Energy’s Morecambe Net Zero carbon storage facility under the Irish Sea.

Peak Cluster is considered a nationally significant infrastructure project, with its approval ultimately up to the secretary of state. The scheme represents £5bn of capital investment.

It has already received backing from the government’s National Wealth Fund to the tune of £28.6m.

If it is built, the pipeline is expected to prevent more than 3m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the Earth’s atmosphere each year.

The cement and lime plants that make up one end of the Peak Cluster are responsible for 40% of the production of those materials in the UK. They are run by Holcim, Tarmac, Buxton Lime, and Breedon.

The request before Wirral Council was to access council-owned land to conduct surveys to help shape the project.

With Wirral having refused the permission, the Peak Cluster will have to go to magistrates court for access. It is expected that the development will be successful in this effort, with costs possibly due to be award in Peak Cluster’s favour if this was the case, according to council documents.

Labour Cllr Steve Foulkes was unfussed that the decision may be overturned.

“This is a small step, but it’s almost a beginning of what will be a long march and a long campaign,” he said. “My view is we set the tone to Peak Cluster and those people around that we will not make life easy. We will try to use every means at our disposal to stop this thing happening.”

Wirral Council has been persistent in its opposition to the pipeline, having formally declared its objection in March and also written to the government to have the project refused.

The pipeline has also sparked public outrage over concerns about environmental impact and its safety.

Conservative member Cllr Jennifer Johnson described the pipeline as “the biggest issue” she had ever faced since becoming a councillor, based solely on the number of emails she had received. “This has really hit home on every level,” Johnson said.

Councillors were not exempt from the heated emotion. Reform UK Cllr Kathy Hodson said she fundamentally and ideologically opposed to the project.

“I am prepared to lie on a piece of land, naked, covered in mud, and get a JCB to take me away,” she told councillors. Hodson did not vote in the decision due to not having an open mind on the matter.

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