Campaigners have won the right to challenge a decision to allow new oil production at Biscathorpe in the Lincolnshire Wolds protected landscape.

Mathilda Dennis, representing the local group, SOS Biscathorpe, has been granted permission for a statutory review before a High Court judge.

In November 2023, a government-appointed inspector granted planning permission for 15 years of oil production at Biscathorpe, overturning a refusal by Lincolnshire County Council.

The inspector admitted that the scheme would harm the landscape and beauty of the area and failed to comply with some local policies.

But he said the national need for oil was enough to justify the plans in the Wolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Ms Dennis will argue that the inspector acted irrationally by giving great weight to what she argues is the small and uncertain contribution of Biscathorpe oil to national energy security. Her case is that the impacts on landscape and climate are more important factors.

She said:

“As the UN Secretary General has said ‘new oil development is moral and economic madness’.

“The climate and ecological crisis is irrefutable and becoming more urgent by the day – we hope that the High Court judge will take this into consideration when reviewing the decision about Biscathorpe”.

All the grounds of Ms Dennis’s challenge have been ruled to be arguable and will be considered by the High Court.

They also include:

• The inspector misinterpreted planning guidance about major development in AONBs. This says permission should be refused unless there are exceptional circumstances and the development is in the public interest.
• There was an error in law in not considering alternative sites or other means of meeting UK energy demands.
• The inspector breached Environmental Impact Regulations by failing to consider greenhouse gas emissions from burning the oil.
• There was no evidence to support the inspector’s assertion that production from Biscathorpe may reduce oil output in other countries.

Amanda Suddaby, of SOS Biscathorpe, said:

“Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty have recently been re-branded ‘National Landscapes’ to reflect the important role they play in mitigating against climate change and ecological breakdown. It is therefore impossible to see how fossil fuel development in these precious areas can be justified.  It defies all logic. 

“We are pleased that a High Court Judge will now consider the balance between a small and uncertain quantity of oil that will probably be exported against the requirement to protect and enhance a National Landscape considered vital in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.”

The case is expected to be heard later this year.

But it has been stayed pending the imminent decision by the Supreme Court in the case brought by Sarah Finch, which also addresses the need to assess emissions from the use of oil.

Julia Eriksen, a solicitor at Leigh Day, who represents Mathilda Dennis, welcomed the permission:

“This case is one of several dealing with fossil fuel development in protected areas in the name of energy security – it raises important issues around the correct interpretation of national planning policy for these major developments in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”.

The Biscathorpe site was first drilled in 2018 but the well failed to find the target.

The current application for oil production and another well was refused by Lincolnshire County Council in 2021, on the opening day of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

The operator, Egdon Resources (now owned by the US-based Heyco Energy) appealed against the refusal. The company and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up will now have to defend the inspector’s decision to overrule the council.

SOS Biscathorpe is crowdfunding to support the case. It is also supported by the renewables boss, Dale Vince.

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