Green Councillor Calls On West Sussex To Review Local Plan On Oil And Gas Extraction

A Green councillor plans to call for an urgent review of West Sussex County Council’s Joint Minerals Local Plan, particularly its position on oil and gas extraction.

The Plan, which was prepared in partnership with the South Downs National Park Authority, covers the years to 2033 and sets out policies to help the authority determine planning applications which involve minerals.

It recently underwent a five-year assessment of its relevance and effectiveness, with officers finding no need for it to be reviewed.

Their recommendation will be put to a meeting of the full council on Friday (May 26).

But Sarah Sharp (Green, Chichester South) said she would urge her fellow councillors to oppose the recommendation and call for an urgent review.

Mrs Sharp said policy M7 of the Plan, which deals with hydrocarbons, did not take adequate account of climate change and would continue to allow oil and gas extraction in the county ‘in a way that adds significant emissions to the atmosphere’.

She added:

“Only in the last week the news has included the Met Office predicting we are likely to exceed 1.5ºC within the next five years – a significant milestone for climate tipping points.

“We hear more and more about extreme weather, including droughts and catastrophic storms and the recent devastating floods in northern Italy.

“The consequences of these are getting closer to us; they include consequences on our food supplies, and we are starting to feel these already in our shops.

“Therefore, the need to reduce emissions has to be an essential part of planning policy generally, but specifically the minerals policy because it includes policy on oil and gas.

“Scientific opinion is quite clear that it is the use of oil and gas that is the main driver of climate change, so much so that in 2018 the International Energy Agency warned that there should be no more investment into new oil and gas.

“In the light of this urgency, it is unacceptable that the present minerals policy does not include a need to consider climate change as part of the policy.”

A report into the assessment found Policy M7 to be ‘relevant and effective’.

As for the concerns about taking climate change into account, the Plan lists 13 strategic objectives, one of which covers carbon and climate change and aims to ‘minimise carbon emissions and to adapt to, and to mitigate the potential adverse impacts of, climate change’.

The Plan said:

“Opportunities will be taken to minimise carbon emissions within West Sussex and, where possible, in associated operations outside the county.

“This will be done by ensuring energy efficiency in design, operation and minimising the transportation of minerals.

“Opportunities will also be taken to address the need to adapt to a changing climate.”