Campaigners opposed to plans for oil and gas exploration at Loxley Well near Dunsfold have been left frustrated by a Court of Appeal decision to refuse permission for a final appeal to the Supreme Court.
At a hearing on Tuesday 9 January 2024, The Court of Appeal refused permission for any further appeal against the planning permission granted to UK Oil and Gas PLC by the Secretary of State.
Waverley Borough Council has consistently expressed opposition to plans for oil and gas exploration at Loxley Well. The site is in countryside adjacent to the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which is home to Red Listed birds and other protected species. The council has consistently argued that drilling at the site would have disastrous consequences for the community, local wildlife and the wider landscape.
The original planning application for an exploratory well was refused by Surrey County Council in December 2020 but that decision was overturned by the Secretary of State in July 2021.
A further appeal launched by Waverley Borough Council and local community group Protect Dunsfold won the right to a Judicial Review of the Secretary of State’s decision in March 2023. Following the unsuccessful outcome of that review at the High Court later that year, Protect Dunsfold then applied for permission to appeal the Court’s findings. Although not a party to that application, Waverley Borough Council were fully supportive and ready to make representations if the judge had allowed this to go a full hearing.
Councillor Steve Williams, Waverley Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability, said:
“At every stage in the long and tortured history of this planning application, local people have demonstrated their overwhelming opposition to any exploration for hydrocarbons at Dunsfold. If drilling goes ahead there will be damaging impacts on the landscape, wildlife, local businesses and residents, while nothing to the local economy.
“More importantly, it simply kicks the can of the climate emergency further down the road. We are living through a time of unprecedented climate impacts and need an immediate shift in national policy away from fossil fuels. We are either serious about addressing global heating, or we’re not.”
Councillor Paul Follows, Leader of Waverley Borough Council, said:
“Onshore extraction of fossil fuels is totally incompatible with the Climate Emergency declared by Waverley Borough Council, Surrey County Council, and our national government. The UK needs to rapidly increase our investment in renewables, where we are in danger of losing our position as genuine world leaders. We should focus on energy generation by cost effective and sustainable methods such as solar and offshore wind, and stop ripping up the Surrey Hills in pursuit of oil and gas.
“The judgement today is bad for local communities, bad for the local environment, very bad for the planet and sends a message to future generations that we simply don’t care about them.”
On 11 January 2024, the Leader of Waverley Borough Council, Cllr Paul Follows and Cllr Steve Williams, the council's Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability, wrote to Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP asking for his support in our ongoing challenge to UK Oil & Gas (UKOG). You can download the document below.
Picture credit: DrillOrDrop.com