A decision to allow testing to find oil at an unpopular fracking site is a “mockery of the climate crisis” a wildlife charity says.
West Sussex County Council had rejected more testing at the site off London Road in Balcombe but on Monday the Planning Inpsectorate overturned that decision.
It has granted planning permission for two and a half years for oil firm Angus Energy to test for oil which will take one year.
Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said the decision has “no public benefit and can only lead to environmental harm in an area of outstanding natural beauty”.
CPRE acting director of campaigns and policy Paul Miner said: “This extraordinary decision defies belief.
"It makes a mockery of the climate crisis. And, after more than 800 people objected to the proposal, it also shows contempt for local democracy.
“But this is not the end of the road. There will almost certainly now be a statutory legal challenge at the High Court, which anyone opposed to turning our countryside into a cash machine for oil barons must hope succeeds.
“As damaging as this proposal to drill for oil would be for the residents of Balcombe, the danger is far graver and wider.
"This decision could set a precedent to expand drilling across the Jurassic Weald, an area of oil-rich shale that stretches all the way from Winchester in Hampshire to the rolling downs of Rye in Sussex.
"It sends shivers down the spine.”
The decision will allow for the removal of drilling fluids and subsequent engineering works as well as the year-long extended well test for hydrocarbons, which form the basis of crude oil, natural gas, coal and other energy sources.
The document notes that a single gas flare unit would be used for gas combustion.
It also said that as many as 56 HGVs could come to the site every day, equivalent to five or six per hour overall.
Angus Energy said the operations do not involve any drilling or fracking.
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The Planning Inspectorate said in the appeal document: “Despite clear assurance that this proposal does not involve fracking, it is understandably disturbing to the Balcombe Parish Council and local people that the subject remains emotive and potentially might give rise to further disruptive public protests.”
CPRE volunteer Michael Brown said: “The decision is also a slap in the face for the people of Balcombe who, after well over a decade of being threatened with being turned into an oil-town, now face that uncertainty for another three years or more.”
George Lucan, chief executive of Angus Energy, said: “This has been a permitted site for over 30 years. The proposed operations, which are for a year-long test, don’t involve any drilling but rather a clean-up and flow testing of an existing well.
“The monitoring and limits for noise, air and light pollution are stringent as is appropriate for this setting.
“The site is accessed on one side from the busy London Road, is well screened by commercial forestry, and has on the other side the main London to Brighton railway line about 100 metres from the fence line.
“The site will deliver oil with a lower carbon footprint than imported oil and this will be won with better safety and environmental standards than elsewhere and will support British jobs, suppliers and energy security.”
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