UK Oil & Gas has announced that it won’t be appealing the decision to refuse planning permission for an oil exploration site in Arreton, marking a success for local campaigners.
In October last year, the Isle of Wight Council’s planning committee unanimously decided to refuse UK Oil and Gas’s (UKOG) application for 2 exploratory boreholes off Blackwater Road, due to potential impact on tourism and ‘demonstrable’ impact on the Island’s natural environment.
A petition was handed over with more than 4,000 signatures, but interestingly no objections to the development were raised by statutory consultees on environmental, drinking water, landscape or health and safety grounds. Furthermore, the refusal went against the recommendation by the council’s planning officers to approve the project.
UKOG say that the refusal of permission for appraisal and testing of the Arreton discovery has served to underscore their growing interest in the international arena for oil and gas and the company’s new direction into geothermal and hydrogen-based energy in the UK.
In a statement, UKOG has said:
“Given the number of new opportunities available to the Company, all of which are considered to offer far greater success case economic impact and higher probabilities of success than the proposed Isle of Wight project, the Company has decided not to appeal against the planning refusal.
“The envisaged £0.5 million planning appeal costs will therefore remain available and could be used for developing new oil & gas and geothermal/energy storage projects”.
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Reacting to the news, local Councillor Suzie Ellis has today (Friday) said:
“As the Isle of Wight Council ward member for Central Rural – which includes the parish of Arreton where oil drilling exploration was proposed – I am delighted that UKOG has announced that it will not appeal the refusal of planning permission. This is great news for local residents, campaigners, and the Island as a whole.
“Securing the refusal of this application was a team effort, led by Don’t Drill The Wight. I was pleased to play my part, as the ward councillor, in making the case for refusal in my representations to the Planning Committee”.
A spokesperson for Don’t Drill The Wight has said:
“We are delighted to hear that UKOG has finally decided not to appeal the decision of the planning committee to reject the Arreton Oil site application. It is a huge relief for us all on the island.
“We hope that this will give our council the confidence to include a specific statement within their upcoming review of the Island Minerals and Waste Plan rejecting all plans for fossil fuel exploration and extraction. The Isle of Wight exploration licence is still active until July 2023 but it is doubtful that it will be sold on by UKOG to another operator.
“We are continuing to monitor the Government’s policies on future plans for offshore developments, since the Isle of Wight offshore licence P1916, which was dropped by UKOG in 2018, could be included in the next offshore round of licences.”
Shame. Another potential economy/livelihood boosting initiative killed by the pitchfork mob
So the Isle of Wight Council supports Mr Putin. They should never have refused permission for this investigative drilling, the country needs as much oil and gas as it can find to obviate reliance on foreign supplies, especially Russia.
It should have gone ahead, even before Putin started, it was obvious more oil and gas was needed from our own resources.
And the NIMBY’s win again! Lost the Motocross and now this, best thing to happen is for another stinky bio mass plant to be built there and make the property prices collapse
Well said.
Isle of wight narrow minded won’t have wind farms, oil drilling,a new gravel pit,
we need to wake and get out of the 1950’s!
We won’t have wind farms because they are unsightly and don’t work reliably. as was proved last summer when we burnt all our gas reserves running gas fired generators to keep the lights on because there was so little wind for weeks. Carbon neutral is pie in the sky.
Even without Putin’s input this is a sorely missed opportunity for the Island. It would NOT have made a great impact on the area. Note, none of the official bodies objected. So who should they have taken notice of the 4000 or the other 100,000+
This is what makes me laugh with the IOW. Apathy rules the roost as nobody wants to move forward and improve the financial status of the island. Islanders want gas and fuel but they don’t want to dig for it. They are happy to buy from Russia. They want cheap energy but don’t want wind farms, yet they are happy to decorate their front gardens with scrap cars etc. Even a hopeful independent council candidate for Newchurch has a residential property stacked full of cars,boats,trailers and general scrap which he calls landscaping. Is it no wonder the island is known as the poor cousin to the mainland!!!
Why NOT , this Island refuses windfarms in the sea, windfarms on land yet still want electric/fuel etc. An oil drill would do no harm,if turns out there is oil that would be great for the Island. Too many people with to much money – no consideration for others .a
This was an incredible opportunity for the island. I guess we will sit back and continue to watch the island crumble
Driving through Arreton earlier it made me wonder if any of the people who live there actually think about what they fill their cars with and where it comes from? Because of where it’s situated you pretty much depend on a car to get anywhere and most of the cars there are petrol or diesel powered.
Oh well, I hope Arreton residents like wind turbines because we’re going to need something to replace the oil and gas.
As the fuel crisis hurts more and more a rethink may be on the cards
most of it is people move down here they want it quiet and peaceful they dont want to see windfarms on land or at sea it will ruin the view they dont want to see a oil well they want the island to stay the way it was when they came here on holiday when they were young Dont say it is the islanders who dont want all this we do we want a better life more money it is people moving over here wants the island to stay in the Dark Ages just like what locals in Cornwall want but rich city people move in and we are all screwed
Is English not your first language or is this comment written in islanders dialect.
Another wasted opportunity to provide opportunity’s for those needing proper paid work, and maybe bring some benefit to our Island.
Unfortunately there a just a few very wealthy and influential people living ( or owning land ) here, that dictate how the rest of us live.
Why can’t these nimbys realise that carbon neutral is pie in the sky.