High Court agrees to hear challenge to grant of planning permission to oil drilling project in Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Objectors to an oil drilling project in the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) have been granted permission for a judicial review of a decision to give the scheme planning consent.
The project was rejected by Lincolnshire County Council but allowed by a planning inspector on appeal.
Developer Egdon Resources applied for exploratory drilling and 15 years of production at the Biscathorpe site.
Mathilda Dennis, a member of campaign group SOS Biscathorpe, was given permission for judicial review on all the grounds put forward, law firm Leigh Day said.
It said her grounds for legal challenge are:
- the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) guidance about major development in AONBs, which states that permission should be refused unless there are exceptional circumstances and the development is in the public interest, has been misinterpreted;
- there had been an error of law in not considering alternative proposals, including other means of meeting UK energy demands;
- there had been a breach of the Environmental Impact Regulations 2017 by failing to consider whether the inevitable downstream greenhouse gas emissions that will arise from burning the oil were relevant to determining the environmental impact of the project;
- the great weight attached to the development’s small and uncertain contribution to national energy security was irrational;
- there was no evidence for an irrational assertion about the impact of the development on oil output in other countries.
Leigh Day said the case would be heard later this year having been stayed pending an imminent Supreme Court decision on the need to assess downstream greenhouse gas emissions.
Solicitor Julia Eriksen, who represents SOS Biscathorpe, said: “Our client will argue that the Secretary of State acted unlawfully and irrationally in overturning Lincolnshire County Council’s decision to refuse planning permission. This case is one of several dealing with fossil fuel development in protected areas in the name of energy security – it raises important issues around the correct interpretation of national planning policy for these major developments in an area of outstanding natural beauty”.
An Egdon Resources statement said: “We note that the judicial review against the planning inspector's decision to grant consent at Biscathorpe is proceeding and await the outcome of this process.
“In the meantime we will be re-establishing the Community Liaison Group to provide a forum to address any concerns which may be raised by local residents.”
Mark Smulian
