Activists occupy proposed oil exploration site in Surrey

Tents, steel fences and pallets were put up by the campaigners over the weekend (October 16-17) on the site that fossil fuel company UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) have proposed to use for oil exploration.

The oil company were twice refused planning permission on the site by Surrey County Council (SCC), most recently in November 2020 after a concerted effort by campaigners including residents, activists and councillors who were concerned over any impact it would have on the environment.

However, UKOG appealed that decision and their case is now under scrutiny by the Planning Inspectorate.

The fossil fuel company said previously they wanted to use the "discreet field" at Dunsfold Road and High Loxley Road to "find much-needed oil and gas for the UK’s energy security."

Protesters now at the site are determined to stay in the meantime and point to the grave environmental cost of continuing to extract and use fossil fuels amid the worsening climate emergency and the upcoming climate summit (COP26) in Glasgow.

"We are here to peacefully stop UK Oil & Gas from drilling for oil and gas on this land and to prevent them from industrialising our countryside," a statement from the protest camp read. "We aim to do this with least disruption to the local community and whilst minimising our environmental footprint. “The decision to go ahead with the camp in these unprecedented times due to the global Covid-19 pandemic has not been taken lightly but given the climate and ecological emergency that we are also facing we feel that we cannot afford to stand by and do nothing."

The group, who say they will leave if UKOG's appeal is rejected, pointed to the latest IPPC report from the United Nations which found that "immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions" were needed in order to limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C worldwide. The same report pointed to increasingly destructive and dangerous impacts such as extreme weather events and food shortages, getting worse if two or more degrees of warming occurs.

Rachel Merton, aged 35, a school receptionist from Horsham, who is at the protest site, said: "We have to start moving away from fossil fuels now. I can't just stand by and let a new oil development happen on my doorstep. This camp is a way we can show that now is the time to make the change to other forms of energy".

Her fellow protester June Roberts, an administrator and parent from Dorking, said: "I have children and fear for their future. I am a law abiding citizen but I cannot stand by and allow more gas and oil to be extracted when we have had clear warnings that radical action has to be taken if we are to have any chance of limiting global warming to survivable levels."

UKOG were contacted for further comment.