The works would involve drilling one vertical and one horizontal well, together with ancillary works, to check the suitability of the rock for shale gas extraction.
The firm emphasised that the application does not include any proposals for fracking. However, depending on the results, the firm may seek permission to extract the shale gas which would require a separate planning application.
Permission is sought for a temporary period of up to three years, with drilling taking place for approximately 14 weeks for the vertical well and 19 weeks for the horizontal well.
The Council will now begin detailed consultation work on the application, seeking the views of more than 40 organisations. The deadline for responses is 9 December 2015.
IGas first made known its intentions to explore for shale gas in Nottinghamshire in May, having submitted a scoping request. In August, it applied for planning permission to monitor groundwater across four locations near Springs Road, which was announced delayed earlier this week.
Also under review is a separate scoping request for a site at Tinker Lane near Blyth in Nottinghamshire.
As well as IGas’ applications, there are two live fracking applications in the UK. One from Third Energy before the North Yorkshire County Council, and two applications from Cuadrilla which are under appeal to the Secretary of State. Civil servants have warned that the appeal process could take “at least 16 months”.
UK Onshore Oil and Gas chief executive Ken Cronin recently told Utility Week that the number of fracking applications which reach the planning stage looks set to increase over the next six months, after the Oil and Gas Authority confirmed that 27 onshore blocks from the 14th Onshore Oil and Gas licensing round will be formally offered to companies.
The UK government recently put in place measures to fast-track shale gas planning applications, including identifying councils which repeatedly fail to determine oil and gas applications within the 16-week statutory timeframe, with subsequent applications potentially decided by the communities secretary.
Read Utility Week’s analysis on the state of the ‘shale revolution’ here.