Concerned residents and campaigners are invited to join the Isle of Wight Green Party on a discovery walk to the proposed oil drilling site in Arreton this Sunday (12th July).
The walk is in support of the Don’t Drill the Wight campaign and will allow islanders to discover for themselves the wildlife habitats in the area, through sticking to the footpaths and bridleways near the site of the proposed development.
Cameron Palin, Campaigns Officer for the Isle of Wight Green Party, said:
“With only 2 weeks left of the public consultation period, it is vital that as many people as possible write or email the Isle of Wight Council with their concerns about the impact of such a development, right in the middle of the Isle of Wight countryside. The proposed drill pad, HGV access road and security compound is on agricultural land, overlooking the Arreton valley, and surrounded by our unspoilt Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
“As residents of the Isle of Wight, too many of us take for granted the natural beauty of our island. But only one year on from being granted UNESCO Biosphere status, and the IW Council declaring a Climate Emergency, Islanders are now being asked to step up and speak out and to stop the damaging industrialisation of our countryside.
“Everyone is welcome to join us on this socially distanced walk, to discover the landscape for yourself and grow the Don’t Drill the Wight campaign. You really don’t know what you’ve got, until it is gone.”
Walkers will be meeting at Shide, near the cycle track, at 11:00. The walk will take approximately 1 hour each way and aims to return safely to Newport by 15:00.
For more information about the ‘Don’t Drill the Wight’ campaign visit www.dontdrillthewight.co.uk.
How many of them often walk Footpaths A1, A2, and A5 or have ever walked them ?, just asking.
Your comment makes no sense. Why does it matter if someone has walked these paths or not. If you are against drilling, where ever it is, then you’ll be interested in supporting this.
My point was, that I don’t see what walking the paths has to do with the issue. unless they were heavily used Perhaps I should have just said that.
I used to voted for and supported the Green Party. But then they decided to ignore democracy and promise to undo the Brexit Vote. Now I have no one to vote for.
I walk some of those paths and it is NOT just about the appearance it is about the real risk of contamination to the water courses deep underground, or the environment from a company which is not wealthy SHOULD anything go wrong.
The company UKOG have been in business for a few years, and their shares are the lowest they have been for years.
They keep issuing new shares to raise cash for their latest projects, but investors are now saying is the CEO just stringing shareholders along to just gain a good wage year in year out even IF no oil is discovered in sizeable quantities as he is taking a salary from these new shares issued, yet has NOT invested anything himself in the company.
Knowing our council, it would come as no surprise that should any terrible disaster happen, then they would find that the companies insurance did not ‘cover’ such, or the company would go bankrupt, and we would end up footing a very expensive bill.
You have hit the nail on the head. There will never be any oil extraction at Arreton. The whole thing is a ruse to keep ukog going and keep the directors in work. Anyway, ukog have a much better project going on the Surrey Weald. This is a fuss about something which will never happen, certainly not with oil at 30 dollars a barrel.