Further chance to comment as rejected oil drilling plan goes to appeal

Egdon Resources announced on June 18 that it had submitted further information, as requested, to the Planning Inspectorate, about its fresh planning appeal for the oil drilling site off High Street at Biscathorpe.

A decision to approve an oilfield in the Lincolnshire Wolds was quashed a year ago following a Supreme Court judgment. Campaigners from SOS Biscathorpe had brought the claim against the government after it approved plans for exploratory oil drilling and production in 2023.

In 2021, Lincolnshire County Council refused Egdon Resources permission for further exploratory drilling and 15 years of oil production in the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB after exploratory drilling in 2018 had failed to locate the target reserve.

However, this decision from the council was overturned by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Michael Gove at the time) in November 2023 following an appeal by Egdon Resources. This was despite the Secretary of State’s planning inspector having acknowledged that the development would have ‘adverse impacts’ on the landscape, that it contravened local planning policy, and that the small and uncertain quantity of oil that it would ultimately produce might be exported.

SOS Biscathorpe argued that the negative impact of oil extraction on the landscape and on climate crisis outweighed any claims that the site’s uncertain and negligible oil output would contribute to national energy security.

But following a landmark Supreme Court ruling which halted a similar plan for oil production in Surrey, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Egdon Resources agreed to concede the case.

The new public consultation based on the new evidence runs from Monday June 23 to Monday July 28.

The company said its new information, along with an environmental statement, can be seen on Lincolnshire County Council’s planning website.