Cheshire East Council says it hasn't given up on the possibility of extracting geothermal energy from beneath Crewe – but commercial viability is a key factor.

Geothermal energy is water that is naturally heated by the earth's core and can be drawn up to the surface retaining a temperature of up to 100ºC.

Crewe was identified several years ago by the British Geological Society as one of only six deep geothermal resources in the UK.

Parts of Leighton are currently being excavated for the North West Crewe Package (Jonathan White).

In 2015, Cheshire East announced it was in talks with potential partners about plans to drill for geothermal at Leighton West.

Little seems to have happened since.

At Friday's meeting of the council's environment and communities committee, Nantwich councillor Peter Groves (Con) said: "Not that long ago, probably three or four years ago, we were being told there was great potential under Crewe for geothermal.

"I think one of the things we were being told at the time was that Leighton Hospital would get all its hot water from geothermal – and it's all gone rather quiet.

"I'm told, at the time, that somebody had delivered a report proving it was actually feasible and we could utilise that facility but nothing seems to have happened.

"And as I haven't read anything about geothermal which has the concerns that people have about fracking in terms of potential earthquake type symptoms, I just wondering why we weren't doing more about geothermal."

Cllr Peter Groves, Nantwich South & Stapeley, Conservative (Cheshire East Council).

An environment officer told him: "The concept hasn't gone away. It is something we are still continuing to explore.

"The key challenge is commercial viability of the scheme and the initial scale of the initial investment."

Currently, there are no deep geothermal plants in the UK. 

READ MORE: Crewe down to final six locations in bid to become home of Great British Railways.

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