SCORES of Purbeck residents attended an information event yesterday, outlining plans to explore for gas and oil from Swanage’s California Quarry.

The drop-in event, at the town’s Mowlem Theatre, was organised by InfraStrata plc – the company behind the proposals.

InfraStrata chief executive Dr Andrew Hindle confirmed the project had been postponed until next winter, and that it will involve conventional drilling and not hydraulic fracturing – better known as fracking.

“Our planning permission doesn’t allow for fracking,” he stressed. “It is for conventional exploration. We have an agreement with the landowner that says it (fracking) cannot take place on that site as well. We can categorically say that there is no shale gas associated with this project, what most people may not appreciate is that there has been deep drilling for oil and gas in Dorset for 75 years. What we are looking at will be quite similar to the site at Kimmeridge, which has been in production for 50 years.”

The company recently announced the exploratory drilling, which already has planning permission, was being postponed until winter 2015/16.

InfraStrata had wanted to start drilling at the site this winter, but a delay in receiving a government license pushed that start date back. Members of Swanage-based Stop The Swanage Gas Rig organisation, who protested outside the Mowlem Theatre, remain unconvinced fracking will never be an issue. They also believe drilling will increase traffic and damage the environment.

Civil engineer Richard Elliott, who compiled a traffic report for InfraStrata, predicts 126 HGV traffic movements during the first and last weeks of drilling.

“This will be to get the rig on site and remove it,” he explained. “On the second week of drilling we’ve allowed for three or four deliveries of water per day, but it may be the case that we don’t need that much. If it rains we can take water from surrounding ditches.”

The exploratory well will only be in operation for six weeks. If significant reserves are found any further site development would require a separate planning application.