Arreton & Godshill, Isle of Wight

PEDL 331

Operator: UK Oil and Gas plc (UKOG) (Licence held with Doriemus Plc)

 

In March 2022, UKOG announced it will not appeal against the refusal of planning permission for exploration near the village of Arreton on the Isle of Wight.

This win brought to an end years of dedicated campaigning by Don’t Drill the Wight and Frack Free Isle of Wight, non-party political groups of people from a wide variety of backgrounds opposed to the development of new onshore exploration and extraction sites for oil and gas. 

200 square kilometres of the Isle of Wight are licensed for oil extraction.

UK Oil and Gas Ltd (UKOG) applied for planning permission to drill and test vertical and sidetrack oil wells on farmland between Newport and Sandown. The scheme included a new access road and junction with the cross-island A3056 road.

The company previously estimated there were 227 million barrels of oil beneath the Arreton area and that the site could produce 500 barrels a day.

On 19 October 2021, Councillors voted unanimously to reject the scheme, against the advice of planning officers.

They said the proposal had no local economic benefits and would damage the Isle of Wight’s high-quality natural environment, which was vital to the tourist industry.

In March 2022, UKOG announced they would not appeal against this decision. With their fight over, campaign group Don’t Drill the Wight have closed down. They said, “Thank you to the Weald Action Group all for your encouragement and support over the years. We could not have done it without you all.”

 

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