A number of consultations are currently live concerning the oil and gas sites in Surrey. Please make sure to send your comments. And we have news on the legal challenge to the expansion at Horse Hill.

Dunsfold: UKOG appeal against refusal of permission for gas drilling

Surrey County Council refused the application by UK Oil and Gas Plc (UKOG) for mineral exploration at Loxley, near Dunsfold (twice! – see here).

UKOG has appealed. The appeal is open for representations – you can send yours to the Planning Inspectorate. The deadline is 6 April.

Find out more on the Waverley Against Drilling website.

Horse Hill: UKOG applies for environmental permit for four more oil wells and 20 years of production

UKOG has applied for an environmental permit variation to allow it to go ahead with the expansion that received planning permission in 2019.  The work can’t proceed without this Environment Agency permit.

If you’d like to object, go to https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/psc/rh6-0hn-horse-hill-developments-ltd/  and click ‘Online Consultation’(or search ‘EA Horse Hill permit’).  The deadline is 21 April.

Find out more on the Weald Action Group website.

Brockham: Angus Energy applies for environmental permit to reinject waste water

Angus Energy has applied for a variation of their environmental permit to allow for reinjection of waste water at Brockham. They want to reinject water produced onsite and at other producing fields in the Weald Basin (despite the fact they don’t have planning permission to import water from other sites). Reinjection at Brockham was explicitly prohibited by the Environment Agency in 2018.

Find out more, including how to object, on the Brockham Oil Watch website.  The deadline is 4 May.

Horse Hill Legal Challenge: Permission to appeal granted

Campaigner Sarah Finch has been given permission to take her legal battle over Horse Hill to the Court of Appeal. Sarah, who is supported by the Weald Action Group, is arguing that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) used as part of the decision-making process should have considered the full climate impacts of the development, including greenhouse gas emissions arising from the combustion of the oil produced at the site.

A judge, Mr Justice Holgate, dismissed her challenge following a hearing in November, but Lord Justice Lewison says that the argument “has far reaching ramifications” and “the emission of GHG is a matter of considerable public concern”. He added that “although the judge’s reasons for his conclusion are cogent, they are open to proper challenge; and in view of the importance of the question, I regard this as a compelling reason for the appeal to be heard”.

The Appeal will take place later this year.  Read more on the Weald Action Group website.