Project Summary
A systematic analysis of all existing landowner communications was undertaken to consider and help shape the overall strategy.
This project reviewed the communications strategy of the South West (SW) Hub following their 2014 seismic survey. The SW Hub projects’ communications strategy included:
- Face-to-face contacts
- Community meetings
- Local schools
- Attendance at local shows
- Tours of the well site
- Ensuring the Project manager was locally accessible
- Responsive management
In total there were 125 landholders of whom 75 granted access for the 3D seismic test. Of the 125 customer file notes, every alternate file note was scrutinised in detail. This resulted in 63 records being analysed for this research. Of those, 37 allowed access for the 3D seismic testing while 26 did not. The analysis was then triangulated with secondary data from media articles and websites and 18 telephone interviews. These were conducted with a cross-section of impacted landholders, project proponents, contractors and representatives from the local consultative committee.
It is interesting to note that several key themes are common to both groups (those who granted access and those who denied access), which suggests such themes are not just project related. Examples of how DMP and contractors helped to overcome these are expanded on in the report.
Despite the positive outcome of the land access negotiations for the 3D seismic survey, many landholders were keen to ensure that everyone was aware that their granting access for the survey would not necessarily translate into support for the CCS project. Therefore, continuing to build and maintain a trusting and positive relationship will be essential if the project is to progress through its planned stages. A number of recommendations arose from this work for consideration by the project proponents, and these recommendations also have relevance for other CCS projects.
