Campaigners' delight after West Sussex County Council refused to give extension for a bore hole at Broadford Bridge

A good-natured group waving banners and placards greeted councillors heading into the Planning & Rights of Way meeting on Tuesday (March 19).

Planning permission for a borehole for the exploration, testing and evaluation of hydrocarbons at the site in Adversane Lane was first given in 2013.

But the site has been dormant for years.

The feeling among campaigners and a number of councillors was that UKOG was trying to delay having to pay for the restoration of the site.

But a spokesman for the company said another two years was needed so that data could be collected from sites ‘similar to Broadford Bridge’, such as Horse Hill, in Surrey.

Nigel Moore, planning manager for Zetland Group Ltd, agent for the applicant, said reviewing the data would allow UKOG’s geologists to look for similarities in the mix of oil and gas and the flow rates of both.

He added: “It makes economic and environmental sense to ensure that all the available data is interrogated before restoration.

“Because abandoning Broadford Bridge prematurely could sever the link to a viable source of oil and gas that we will need if we are to restore and maintain our future energy independence.”

While four councillors voted to approve the time extension, the other seven did not.

Jaine Wild (Green & Independent Alliance, Felpham) called the situation ‘laughable’, while Janet Duncton (Con, Petworth) felt the site was becoming ‘a bit of a joke’.

Declaring ‘enough is enough’, she added: “I’ve come to the conclusion that if the company that owns it actually thought there was going to be a good supply of oil, or whatever else they’re looking for here, they’d have jolly well got on with it a long time before now.”

Addressing the committee, Charlotte Kenyon (Con, Pulborough) said she was not opposed to the judicious use of fossil fuels, adding that they would be needed for some time as ‘we wean ourselves off and develop viable alternatives’.

But she felt that continuing to license the Broadford Bridge borehole felt ‘weak’ and was ‘starting to feel increasingly speculative and open-ended’ as well as being against the wishes of local residents.

The committee refused the application – along with another asking to keep a security fence, gates and cabins in place – for three reasons.

They were: there was no demonstrable need to retain the site, a significant period had passed with a lack of justification for a further time extension, and the retention of the site was not essential to its countryside location.

Emily Mott, of the Weald Action Group, South East Climate Alliance, said: “We’re very proud of [the] councillors standing up for their constituents and for the health of our planet. They discussed very important planning considerations.

“Ashvin Patel said it all when he stated ‘How long will lives be left in limbo? How long is a piece of string?’

“UKOG has been sent a definitive message that enough is enough. Their case for indigenous oil was unimpressive when it was revealed how little oil could be extracted economically in the Weald and how UK oil goes to a global market and is just as likely to be consumed by China as in West Sussex.

“We are already experiencing the havoc wreaked by climate change with flooding and drought, and need to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”