Communities fighting onshore oil and gas
UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) PLC, the fossil fuel extraction company that has proved so unsuccessful at Horse Hill, Dunsfold, Broadford Bridge, the Isle of Wight and in Turkey, now wants to create salt caverns beneath the Isle of Portland in Dorset, for hydrogen storage. It is promoting the project through its new subsidiary UK Energy Storage Ltd (UKEn).
Continue reading “Do UKOG’s plans to store hydrogen in salt caverns in Dorset add up?”
The Weald Action Group has responded to the government’s consultation on proposed revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework.
We welcome the proposed policies on renewable energy, which provide a welcome shift to enable the rapid deployment of renewable energy at scale.
Continue reading “Weald Action Group response to NPPF consultation”
The UK’s first new coal mine application in 30 years – which was granted permission by the previous government in 2022 – will not be allowed to go ahead.
South Lakes Action on Climate Change and Friends of the Earth had taken the government to court over the decision, arguing among other things that it had failed to take into account the full climate impact of the mine. Today, the High Court judge Justice Holgate allowed their challenges and quashed the planning permission.
The ruling follows the landmark judgment in the case Sarah Finch (on behalf of Weald Action Group) vs. Surrey County Council over the planning permission for onshore oil production at Horse Hill in Surrey. In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the Horse Hill permission was illegal as the Council had failed to assess the greenhouse gas emissions from eventual use of the oil to be produced at Horse Hill. That has set a precedent for successful legal challenges against all new fossil fuel extraction projects.
The Weald Action Group is overjoyed that Justice Holgate recognised that approving this mine without considering its full climate impact was unlawful.
We are delighted that our successful campaign on Horse Hill helped to secure this victory for climate and for communities.
We hope this decision means that the days of approving fossil fuel development without accounting for its emissions are behind us. The government must now prioritise public investment to support a fair transition and green jobs in West Cumbria.
All eyes are now on the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields. They are also subject to legal challenges, from Uplift and Greenpeace, which are currently with the Scottish court. If Horse Hill and the Whitehaven mine are unlawful, they must be as well.
The Weald Action Group’s Supreme Court victory is starting to have effects across the country.
Today, Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has admitted that a controversial new coal mine in Cumbria was permitted unlawfully. Michael Gove, ex Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, granted planning permission for the mine in December 2022. Read a press release from Friends of the Earth
And the the Secretary of State and oil company Egdon Resources Limited have accepted that planning permission for an oil development at Biscathorpe in Lincolnshire was unlawful. Read an update from Cornerstone Barristers
Campaigners from the Weald Action Group will support campaigners against the planned new coal mine in Cumbria as they take their cases to the Royal Courts of Justice on 16 July.
Join the rally outside the court on the first day of the hearing, Tuesday 16 July
Continue reading “Weald Action Group supports campaigners against new Cumbria coalmine”
Surrey County Council acted unlawfully by giving planning permission for oil production at Horse Hill in the Surrey countryside without considering the climate impacts of when the oil is inevitably burned, the Supreme Court has ruled today.
The landmark judgment follows a legal challenge brought by former Surrey resident Sarah Finch, on behalf of the Weald Action Group. The case challenged Surrey County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for oil drilling at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport in the Surrey countryside.
It could have enormous impacts on all new UK fossil fuel developments – including proposals for a controversial new coal mine in Cumbria and North Sea oil and gas projects. Continue reading “Horse Hill: Historic win as Supreme Court upholds landmark climate case”
The Supreme Court will hand down its judgment on the case Sarah Finch v. Surrey County Council at 9.45 am on 20 June 2024. It will be also be livestreamed on the UK Supreme Court website.
Join us outside the court from 8.45am.
The case – about planning permission granted in 2019 for 20 years’ oil production at Horse Hill in Surrey – is of major importance for future decisions by planning authorities about applications to extract fossil fuels across England and Wales.
Continue reading “Supreme Court judgment on Horse Hill case to be issued on 20 June 2024”
The Weald Action Group has urged Hampshire County Council to commit to refuse any plans for new oil and gas developments.
We have responded to the Council’s consultation on the update of its Minerals and Waste Plan, which will guide decision-making on minerals development – including exploration and production of oil and gas – up until 2040.
Continue reading “No new oil & gas: our response to Hampshire Minerals and Waste Plan update”
Update: On 19 March 2024, the West Sussex County Council planning committee refused a further extension of permission at Broadford Bridge. The well will now need to be plugged and abandoned and the site restored to farmland.
UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG) has put a fourth application to delay restoring the well they drilled at Broadford Bridge in West Chiltington to West Sussex County Council.
The company is required by its initial exploration licence to restore the controversial site after its exploration but has convinced planners it needs ‘more time’ despite three previous extensions.
“The decision… puts the park’s purposes in grave danger, dismisses local decision-making and is yet another black mark against this country’s progress towards net zero.”
So wrote representatives of the Campaign for National Parks, Winchester Action on Climate Change, Friends of the South Downs, Petersfield Climate Action Network and Alton Climate Action Network, in a letter to published in The Times on 2 October 2023.