Christmas cheer for oil-drilling campaigners as Biscathorpe plan bites dust

They have been fighting for ten years to halt a plan by oil and gas company, Egdon Resources, to drill and test within the village at one of the most attractive natural beauty spots in the Lincolnshire Wolds.

Now, only four months before a full public inquiry was due to be held, Egdon has withdrawn its appeal against a decision by the High Court in June 2024 to block the proposal.

It means the controversial oil-drilling will not take place, leaving members of the campaign group, SOS Biscathorpe, jubilant on the eve of the festive season. They say it is a triumph within the over-arching war on climate change and fossil fuels.

Amanda Suddaby, a founder of the group, said: “After more than a decade of campaigning, we are, of course, relieved and delighted that drilling at Biscathorpe will not now go ahead.

"It’s a lovely early Christmas gift for everyone who has worked so hard for this outcome, and we’re immensely grateful to everyone who has contributed over the years.”

“It is striking that Egdon and its partners have withdrawn just one week after receiving our new expert-evidence, which clearly demonstrated that new oil-extraction is indefensible in a climate emergency. It’s a conclusion Egdon and its partners now seem to share.

“However, we are disappointed that the substantial body of expert and legal evidence we assembled, and the wider arguments concerning fossil-fuel extraction in the context of the climate crisis, will not now be heard at the inquiry because this is a serious matter that needs to be formally examined in public. Egdon’s decision to withdraw appears to be an attempt to avoid that scrutiny.”

Sandie Stratford, another member of the group added: “We’re very pleased that Egdon has seen sense. Now is not the time to expand fossil-fuel production as the climate crisis bears down on us, and especially not on our beautiful Wolds.”

Egdon, which is wholly owned by Heyco Energy, a US company with interests in fracking, first submitted its planning application back in 2015. It persisted even when exploratory drilling in 2019 failed to locate any oil.

In 2021, Lincolnshire County Council refused the firm’s proposal for full-scale production. This followed uproar among locals in the Louth and Horncastle areas, who cited environmental, climate-change and net-zero concerns, as well as fears that the Biscathorpe landscape, including streams and fords, within a historic conservation area, would be severely scarred.

An appeal by Egdon led to the government’s Planning Inspectorate overturning the council’s decision. But then legal action by SOS Biscathorpe resulted in a successful challenge in the High Court.

The court ruling still failed to deter Egdon, which insisted the project was important for UK energy security.

It pieced together several revised versions of its scheme, prompting repeated rounds of public consultation and the calling of next April’s inquiry by the government.

SOS Biscathorpe commissioned energy and climate expert, Professor Kevin Anderson, to compile a report and provide expert evidence at the inquiry. But days after his report was submitted, Egdon decided to pull the plug on the whole project.

The campaign group says the site should now be returned to its previous use as agricultural land, boosting the bid to tackle climate change.

Mathilda Dennis, who farms near the site, said earlier this year: “We should be protecting our climate and countryside, not sacrificing them for short-term, outdated fossil-duel schemes like this.

"Every tonne of greenhouse gas matters. Every new oil site takes us further from the future we need.

"This development does nothing for our energy security, but it risks destroying one of Lincolnshire’s most precious natural areas.”