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PLANS to establish a major gas storage facility on Portland have been recommended for approval with conditions.

Portland Gas Storage Ltd has made numerous applications to Dorset County Council aimed at creating 14 underground storage caverns in Triassic salt deposits beneath the former naval base at Upper Osprey Quay.

If the scheme gets the go-ahead the site will be a main storage facility for supplying gas to the South West.

A report for the county council's planning committee by the director for environment, Miles Butler, says the applicants would also need hazardous substances consent from the council.

The caverns could be jointly capable of storing a maximum of 35 billion cubic feet of gas.

The report says safety features at the site would include emergency shut down valves at each cavern's well head and sub-surface safety valves.

The report adds that well cellars would be isolated from ground movement by the depth they were buried at - five and a half metres - and by the design of the upper sections.

A separate application was submitted to create 23 miles of pipeline between Portland and Mappowder in North Dorset, the nearest point to the national gas system.

The project would also require the creation of pipework to pump in sea water to dissolve salt deposits and create the caverns.

An application was also put in to create a pipeline from Portland, to take away the resulting brine, to West Stafford where 12 wells would be created for storing it.

Applications were also submitted to create a temporary pipe storage area at Broadmayne and for a block valve station at Osmington.

The applicants also applied to create a visitors' centre in a former engine shed in Incline Road which may include audio-visual displays and a geologymuseum.

The report recommends approval subject to conditions, including creating a surface water management system, ensuring ground stability on nearby slopes and the creation of a coastal protection scheme. The county council's planning committee will meet on Friday, May 16 to discuss the application.

1:00pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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