A new oil site got the go-ahead from Lincolnshire councillors this morning, despite local opposition.
Source: council livestream
The site, proposed by IGas near the small village of Glentworth, was granted planning permission to operate for up to 21 years.
Seven members of the county council’s planning committee voted in favour, with two abstentions and no opposition.
The scheme, for one vertical appraisal well and up to seven production wells, has been opposed by the parish council, local county councillor and villagers.
The chairman of Glentworth Parish Council, John Latham, told the meeting in Lincoln:
“There is no support whatsoever for this development in the village.”
The construction and drilling phases of the scheme, lasting nearly five years, are expected to generate up to 100 lorry movements day, or an average of one every 6 and a half minutes.
Cllr Latham described the impact on the village of the 24-hour-a-day drilling phases:
“This is nothing less than industrialisation of the countryside with no direct benefit to the village or its residents. Once it is lost it is gone forever and we urge you to refuse [the application].”
He said Kexby Road, on the proposed lorry route, was a “quiet country residential road”. It was not a heavily trafficked street that experienced heavy goods vehicles on a regular basis or an industrial area, he said.
“We are concerned about the noise, air pollution, vibration and safety. The mental health impact of these 100 lorry movements a day on the residents living on Kexby Road cannot be lightly dismissed.”
The increased traffic would have an impact on pedestrians, dog walkers, horse riders and cyclists, he said. The road also had school bus pick-up points.
Mr Latham said the IGas proposal contravened two policies in the National Planning Policy Framework: paragraph 152 on supporting the transition to a low carbon future and paragraph 185 on protecting tranquil areas.
The meeting heard that 62 people had objected to the proposal. But it was supported by county council planners.
The council’s highways department had been concerned about the proposed lorry route. But the meeting heard that IGas had agreed to a legal agreement requiring four new passing places, widening an existing passing place and improvements to the road surface.
Tony Bryan, development director for IGas, told the meeting the company had a “long and successful history” of oil extraction in Lincolnshire. It had operated an existing site near Glentworth, since 2011.
There was a continued role for fossil fuels during the transition to a low carbon economy, Mr Bryan said. The proposal was consistent with national policy and helped to avoid the need for imports, he said.
IGas has previously said the new site could produce up to 2,500 barrels of fluid a day, comprising oil and water. But there are no estimates of the individual amounts of oil and water.
Mr Bryan told the meeting there had been no objections from statutory consultees and the environmental impacts were “acceptable”. He said a traffic management plan would aim to avoid lorry movements at school drop-off and pick-up times.
Discussion
The planning committee took 34 minutes to approve the proposal.
Cllr Noi Sear said she was concerned about lorry access to the site. The head of planning, Neil McBride, said the proposed improvements should ensure the local highway network was “of sufficient standard to absorb those traffic volumes”.
Cllr Thomas Ashton said there were no clear planning grounds to refuse the application.
Lincolnshire had been “familiar with this type of oil development for a very long time”, he said. The current IGas Glentworth site was “happily sitting there pumping away for very little impact on the landscape and very little noise”, he said.
Cllr Ashton said he was satisfied that, with tree planting and landscaping, the new proposal would “sit as harmlessly on the landscape as the one that is already nearby”.
He said he was “much more supportive, if we are going to have oil, … that it comes from Lincolnshire and not on a ship from the far side of the world”.
Cllr Tom Smith said site construction would be “very distressing and very difficult to live with” for local residents. But he said the impact was “not of the level” that would constitute planning grounds for refusing the application.
Cllr Paula Ashleigh-Morris said:
“Shipping oil from who knows where is massively more environmentally damaging than a small amount locally. Having been in the motor trade for aeons, engines need oil. … And we have to have it from somewhere.”
The committee chair, Ian Fleetwood, said the surrounding countryside meant that equipment on the site would be “visually not so intrusive” and noise “would not carry”.
Reaction
Chris Hopkinson, IGas interim executive chairman, said:
“I am pleased that the Committee has made this positive determination following the recommendation by the Planning Officer.”
“It is important to recognise the continuing role of fossil fuels in providing for UK energy needs during the transition to a low carbon economy and developing indigenous resources is an important part of the UK’s future energy security.
“This will help us deliver on our strategy of pursuing lower risk, infill opportunities, bolstering our oil production whilst we invest in growing our market leading geothermal business.”
Updated with IGas reaction
Categories: Regulation, slider
DRILL OR DROP? 
Common sense Not Common Purpose
Common sense in Lincolnshire.
Cllr Ashton seems to know his onions. “Happily sitting there, pumping away”-even when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.
Happily sitting there spewing poison that will kill us all would’ve been more accurate! How can these people be so thoroughly, criminally ignorant of modern science?
THERE IS NO CARBON BUDGET LEFT FOR ANY NEW FOSSIL FUELS, ANYWHERE, if we want to have half a chance of not exceeding 1.5 degrees.
You are a candidate for Rishi’s drive for better maths. alex!
This well will NOT increase the DEMAND for oil in UK. It will simply transfer production to a local source. If it happens to be exported, then what is the problem? Are you and others so against UK citizens being able to afford foreign holidays thanks to a stronger currency?
You use the products from fossil fuel, you help to create the demand. If you think they are “poison” why continue? Are you criminally ignorant of modern science? Sorry to inform you about modern science, but every time you press those plastic keys your virtue signal evaporates. If you want less oil then use less. I actually don’t want less oil but I would like oil to continue to fund stuff such as carbon capture and hydrogen, plus moderating the high cost of energy in this country to individuals and industry. If they don’t, who will? That will be maximized for UK by more UK oil and less imported oil. Shame for those involved with trying to maintain their export markets from over the horizon, and/or their competitive edge, but such is life.
Cheaper energy from wind and solar? Nope, not when you add in the £200B required for UK new nuclear as the insurance policy-which just happens to also have a very high generation cost. Averages, alex! The “powers that be” want better maths. Some can already cope with such, others do have issues. I feel I can cope. I also know local communities in Lincolnshire. They do not feel they have been sacrificed. The local community in this case has experience of a local well and yet struggled to amass 62 objections!
Oh Dear Never mind
Excellent news. Let’s hope for more energy security to come, not that that will be popular with the middle-class who can afford to pay the price of foreign imports.
If you want energy security and cheaper energy, your best bet is solar and wind. The powers that be are doing their utmost to stop you from understanding that, because they don’t want us to have cheap fuel and lift millions of people out of poverty. Don’t fall for the propaganda. The oil from under those Lincolnshire fields is not “our” oil, it’s “theirs” and they’ll sell it to the highest bidder at a price set by international markets. Lincolnshire probably produces less than 1% of UK oil and it’s local communities are being sacrificed for greed by councillors who are ignorant of the facts.
Alex Are these ‘powers that be’ the same ones accused of turning Lincolnshire into a solar panel wasteland? The opposition to solar sits alongside the opposition to oil with the same rhetoric applied to both. Lincolnshire sacrificed for greend by councillors ignorant of the facts nutured snd or manufactured by those against solar and oil?
Your argument relies on dividing people into 2 groups, those that oppose oil,solar,wind and those that don’t. Sorry to complicate it for you but there’s at least one other group: those that oppose fossil fuels (coz they understand science) but support solar and wind (coz they understand science!). Actually, you’ll find those Tory councillors who support oil very often oppose solar & wind – you’ll have to ask them why….maybe they don’t understand science.
alex It is not an argument, it is a statement of fact here in Lincolnshire. There are numerous groups, those that oppose solar, those that oppose solar and oil, along with those who support solar and oppose oil, and those that support oil and solar. Then you can add a slice of party politics as there are labor supporters and or councillors in all camps as there are conservatives. After doing that, add a slice of proximity, which helps oppose in all cases. Not just two camps and nothing to do with understanding the science. It is more to do with not liking what is happening near where you live.
So you’re saying that everyone’s a NIMBY? May be true of some – usually those who point the figure are the most likely to be guilty of it. Others are genuinely concerned for their fellow human beings. I wouldn’t want oil & gas developments in anyone’s backyard …for purely selfish existential reasons, you understand?
The ‘powers that be’ are the oil & gas industry (and governments under their influence) who don’t want the masses to have cheap, clean energy – why would they? The councillors (on this vote) are just misguided and ignorant of the science.
There is no restriction upon “cheap, clean energy” in the UK, alex. Why on earth would the investment into fossil fuel preclude other investment? It never has in the past, is not currently, and unlikely to do so in the future. You may do better to look at the real reasons that cheap, clean energy is not the panacea you would claim, perhaps starting at £200B insurance cost.
You post about those who are misguided and ignorant and then make such statements. Sorry, but incoherence is not scientific and does not display knowledge.
No, not everyone is a Nimby. There were 62 objections! Some will be Nimbys, some will have other reasons. Tens of millions did not object and they were not all ignorant or misguided for not doing so.
alex What I say is what I have written. The powers that be in LIncs are pushing solar, locals are not so sure (well some of them) and others are against oil and solar. If you think they are NIMBY, up to you.
Cannot help you on the conspiracy theory stuff, bad oil and gas companies, wonderful renewable companies and only the chosen few (who truly understand the science) can determine what is right and will inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Let’s face it, China know that the less fossil fuels we use, the sooner they will dominate the world, which is why they fund green activism in the west, and are building a new coal-fired power station every week. Maybe you’re happy to sacrifice the futures of your descendants to the whims of an authoritarian one-party political regime with a shocking human rights record, but I and many other British people are not.
Windfarms and solar panels are not the answer to this looming disaster, they are the cause of it. The free market needs to find a way for the west to have energy security – that means cheap electricity 24/7, so multiple reliable sources. That certainly includes British oil and gas.
All of the ‘energy security’ and ‘shipping oil from who knows where being environmentally unsound’ rhetoric falls flat when considering that in 2022 the UK exported over two million tons of oil to China and a further three and a quarter million tons to the US. I wonder if this well will be producing the bunker fuel for such shipments? Or will they just send it in the post? The idea that UK produced fossil fuels are used exclusively on these shores is both naïve and simplistic in the extreme.
Where did i say this well would increase DEMAND? Strawman arguments all you got?
“ANY NEW FOSSIL FUELS”
Demand is not increased, so somewhere production drops. You really need to concentrate on simple plus and minus. But, progress in that you admit demand is not increased, alex, therefore somewhere production drops. Yes, production does drop very regularly. OPEC have been adjusting production for decades and not always in response to demand. It also drops as wells deplete. Wytch Farm was over 100k BOE now just between 10-15k.
Chill out alex. There is also that group who oppose fossil fuel, as long as it is applied to others and not to them, and claim it is science. Hypocrisy argument all you got?
I am awaiting my new plastic water barrel-recycled plastic. Perhaps I should have gone for wood? In which case less trees, yet trees are good for the environment. Perhaps I should have not bothered to collect rain water but just take it from the tap? In which case, much more machinery required to produce new reservoirs, with their impact upon emissions.
No, I have no issue with plastic, so use without guilt.
Some good news today:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-65263650
Two Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled the Dartford Crossing bridge have been jailed.
Do you ever wonder sometimes, if ‘some’ responses on this web site, ‘Drill or Drop’, are actually real persons writing several derogatory responses to any opposing comment, or are ‘some’ of them AI generated chatbots of doubtful progeny and provenance?
If you find that question has occurred to you even once, then you should watch this video. –
‘Truthstream Media – When Seeing and Hearing Is No Longer Believing’
– *’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4k4VIzNjVg&ab_channel=TruthstreamMedia – *’
Maybe consider whether all comments are from real people, or have any fake AI ‘influencers’ have been used at all? Then you may also consider whether any other media have also been AI generated? Newspapers? Political speeches? Social Media? Main Stream Media? Movies? TV Programs? Deep fake videos? Even one that calls itself ‘Liveperson’?
Then you might consider that the oil energy generation industry and the gas generation lighting/heating/cooking industry has been using AI advertising and social/business/government interaction for years? There are even companies that advertise their digital wares to the oil and gas lobby.
Social media marketing for oil and gas: 7 tips you need to know – *’ – Digital Marketing – Social Media – *’ – https://definityweb.com/social-media-marketing-for-oil-and-gas-7-tips-you-need-to-know/ – ‘*
There are many more adverts for AI generated interaction and influencers with the oil and gas industry if you want to research it. Using AI media searchbots of course.
How many times have you wondered that the literal tirade of personal put downs vaguely disguising the total lack of any provided ‘facts’ or truths, is apparent when you break down various responses into what is actually written, compared to whether any sources are directly provided so that you can check the proffered generated ‘response’ to be in any way accurate or not?
For examples of that you only need to do some research into past responses, where claims were made, but when research was done into the proffered ‘examples’ they turned out to be nothing of the sort? Entirely misrepresented compared to the facts, ‘in fact’.
I’m more than happy to provide many examples if asked from past posts, since my challenges to provide sourced linked verifications of any and all claims made, proved to be avoided and ignored at every occasion.
Have you listened and watched the government/media industry lately? Do you notice how everything follows a trend towards authoritarian dissemination of supposed ‘disinformation’ and ‘misinformation’ claimed anti establishment agendas while not using the same ‘critical thinking’ analyses for ‘disinformation’ and ‘misinformation’ which could equally be employed and applied to their own output?
You may also like to look at more of the Truthstream Media videos asking precisely that question –
‘When Does the Narrative Replace Reality?’ – *’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V68qnk4YJLc&ab_channel=TruthstreamMedia – ‘*
This Truthstream Media video is also on a similar tack and concerns the East Palestine, Ohio train wreck and un-‘controlled’ detonation of dioxins into the local and wider environment.
– ‘Ohio, White Noise, and the Power of Words over Things’ – *’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_GAY2arHx4&ab_channel=TruthstreamMedia – ‘*
That’s about ‘IT’ for now. Maybe some ‘speculated excitement’ will emerge from that. But the essential question is, just ‘who’, or ‘what’, will respond?
And perhaps even more to the point, did [A]I write this? Or was it ‘I’ that wrote this? I think ‘IT’ was ‘I’. But then again, how can ‘I’ be sure ‘I’m’ not ‘AI’m’? Or are ‘you’ for that matter?
“Do you ever wonder sometimes, if ‘some’ responses on this web site, ‘Drill or Drop’, are actually real persons writing several derogatory responses to any opposing comment, or are ‘some’ of them AI generated chatbots of doubtful progeny and provenance?”
No.
But you could ask the Guardian newspaper this question if it is their article which triggered your odd response?
Clearly a quiet weekend for you YYLee?
YY Leeward
Indeed, hence the need for those who live around there to put things in perspective and ward of chatbot stuff (tho probably not on here).
Glenworth is a small rural village in Lincolnshire. It is well connected to the counties road network and within 20 minutes of Lincoln and Gainsborough. Small and rural yes, remote – not really.
However, if a chatbot starts calling it a major oil and gas village, which has thrived on its proximity to an established oil and gas well (or two), we will need to investigate further.
https://www.offshore-technology.com/marketdata/glentworth-conventional-oil-field-uk/
Do I wonder?
I wonder about the reports from Associated Press concerning Pro-Russian accounts spreading misleading claims and anti-American propaganda about the Ohio train disaster. Accounts identified by Reset and their findings shared with Associated Press. So, I read on to find that some of the comments seen on certain Twitter accounts are remarkably in line with some seen on DoD. “Good news” travels fast, or the Internet can be used to inform AND misinform!? Yet, the unconfirmed mass animal die offs seem to have not happened yet, shell fish sales are being restarted in Poole harbour, my local hospitals are all still standing and being expanded and/or replaced, all farmed livestock rations contain a source of calcium, usually limestone, 2020 was not a normal year, and Russian oil will not start to be pumped to the West, again . I therefore consider the accuracy of claims made rather than wonder how or why they were generated. The how or why are quite familiar to anyone who has worked in industry-the competitor using any means at their disposal to try and damage their competitor, usually forgetting to make a case for their own product during the exercise.
Do I wonder about a part of Lincolnshire that has hosted oil extraction for a long time, accepting a bit more? Not really. I know the area well, and many of my past employees who lived in the area had no idea oil extraction had been taking place. When aware of the fact they were quite pleased as it is an area where oil is used in significant quantities to fuel agriculture, the source of many incomes in such rural intensively farmed parts-including their own incomes. A few lorries on rural roads? The same rural roads that are there to accommodate the many lorries at harvest time, and the combine harvesters? Some noise and lights in the dark, just like harvesting into the night and then the grain driers running 24/7-on fossil fuel? I do wonder how 62 people managed to ignore all of that. Maybe they were not real people but chatbots? Really not worth wondering about, sanity prevailed. I am left to wonder about the next bit-will the extraction be successful? Facts usually stop the need to wonder, wondering about stuff that is factually incorrect can be avoided by just considering the facts.
Apologies, I should have written – ask the BBC?
The Guardian article is linked below:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/21/just-stop-oil-protesters-jailed-for-dartford-crossing-protest