Author: Weald Action Group

• Groundbreaking judgment could have profound implications for new fossil fuel projects, including Cumbrian coal mine and North Sea oil and gas fields

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.

Continue reading “West Sussex County Council urged to refuse UKOG’s fourth bid to delay restoring the Broadford Bridge drilling site”

“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.

Continue reading “National and local groups speak out against resumption of oil production at Avington, Hampshire”

The Weald Action Group has formally objected to the application by Egdon Resources to keep the Waddock Cross oil site open for a further ten years. (application P/VOC/2023/02762).

The application is for a ten-year extension to an existing dormant site. If successful, Egdon Resources plans to submit a further application for two more wells with the intention of resuming commercial oil production. If the oil yield shown in modelling cited in the Planning Statement is achieved, Waddock Cross could become one of the largest onshore oil production sites in the UK.

Continue reading “Weald Action Group objects to 10-year extension at Waddock Cross, Dorset”

With every week bringing more news of ‘unprecedented’, ‘record-breaking’ and extreme weather events around the world, it is absolutely clear that this is no time for a new coal mine.

Representatives of the Weald Action Group are travelling to Cumbria on Saturday 9 September to join a Speakers’ Corner event against the proposed new coal mine in Whitehaven. This is a regular event organised by Friends of the Earth Cumbria and others to demonstrate opposition to the UK’s first new deep coal mine for 30 years.

Continue reading “No time for a coal mine: WAG to join Speakers’ Corner at Whitehaven mine site”

Press release from Friends of the Earth

• A legal challenge over Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove’s approval of the mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria, was scheduled to take place this October .
• It will now follow once the Supreme Court has handed down its judgment on a landmark case over the decision to allow oil drilling at Horse Hill in Surrey.
• If successful, the Horse Hill challenge could set a precedent for decisions on approving fossil fuel developments – including the Whitehaven mine.

Continue reading “Whitehaven coal mine: hearing postponed until Supreme Court judgment on Horse Hill case is delivered”

The legal case brought by campaigner Sarah Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group, over the Horse Hill oil site was heard by five judges in the Supreme Court on 21 and 22 June.

Continue reading “Supreme Court hears Horse Hill case”

The hearing on 21 and 22 June will be livestreamed. Watch on: https://www.supremecourt.uk/live/court-02.html

Press release from Leigh Day solicitors

Campaigner Sarah Finch has a Supreme Court hearing on 21 and 22 June in her fight against Surrey County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for oil production at Horse Hill, near to Gatwick Airport.

Continue reading “Supreme Court to hear challenge to planning permission for oil production at Horse Hill, Surrey”