Residents in the West Sussex village of Balcombe have raised enough money to go to the Court of Appeal in their campaign against oil exploration in the village.

Frack Free Balcombe Residents’ Association (FFBRA) announced it had reached its £27,500 target to fight plans for testing at the well site in the village.

The test, proposed by Angus Energy, was unanimously refused by West Sussex County Council in March 2021. The council said the operation was not in the public interest and would have minimal benefit to the economy.

But the company successfully appealed in 2023 when a government-appointed inspector overturned the refusal.

FFBRA challenged the inspector’s grant of planning permission at the High Court but lost its case in October 2023.

The group got permission to take its case to the appeal court and said it had spent a year trying to raise funds for the hearing. Activities included wine-tastings and an auction.

Auctioneer Helen Savage said:  

“In a great fun evening we completed raising the money by auctioning items from baby-sitting to signed books to nights away. I said we’d keep going to the bidder end and that’s not just in raising the money to go to court. As a campaign we will not stop until we have said goodbye to the oil companies.”

The FFBRA challenge will be heard by three judges in London on either 28 or 29 January 2025.

The Balcombe wellsite, in the High Weald National Landscape (formerly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), made national news in summer 2013 when Cuadrilla drilled an exploratory oil well, attracting near-daily protests.

The company ran out of time to test the well in 2013 and since then the site has been largely inactive.

Operation was transferred to Angus Energy in 2018, which carried out an unsuccessful seven-day test that year. It withdrew an application in 2020 for an extended well test when planners recommended refusal.

FFBRA said it hoped success in its case would make it harder for other oil companies to explore in the Sussex Weald and would help protect National Landscapes from industry.

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