Campaigners are urging a council to insist on the speedy restoration of a suspended oil site in West Sussex where decommissioning deadlines have been missed.

The Broadford Bridge site, near Billingshurst, has been dormant since 2018 and has had no planning permission for more than eight months.

The council said in March 2024 the wells should be plugged and abandoned, and the site restored, “as a matter of urgency”.

The operator, a subsidiary of UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG), initially estimated the whole project would be completed by November 2024.

But correspondence between council planners and UKOG shows that even decommissioning work on the wells had not begun by that date. The company also failed to meet targets for starting and finishing the site restoration phase of the work. The project’s finish date has now slipped to July 2025.

The correspondence reveals a possible shortage of companies with the skills and equipment to decommission onshore oil and wells in the UK. This could have implications for other UK onshore sites.

According to the correspondence, West Sussex County Council appears to have considered enforcement of planning conditions at Broadford Bridge at least twice.

But the council has apparently taken no formal action. It would not answer our detailed questions about what steps had been, or would be, taken to enforce restoration of the site.

The authority gave us a statement, first issued in September 2024, which confirmed that the restoration deadlines had now passed. The statement said:

“As a result, this is an enforcement matter.

“The County Council is in active dialogue with the operator about timeframes and progress towards restoration and, if necessary, will take more formal action.

“It is recognised that the operator will need reasonable time to secure the specialist equipment and staff (for which availability is limited) and secure further consents from other regulatory bodies, both of which are necessary to plug/abandon the well and return the site to agriculture.”

The correspondence was released in response to a freedom of information request by the Weald Action Group, which successfully opposed UKOG’s application to extend the Broadford Bridge planning permission in March 2024.

Ann Stewart, who made the request for the group, said:

“We at the Weald Action Group are disappointed, but not surprised that the initial date for restoration has shifted from November 2024 to July 2025. We hope this will be the last delay.

“At the planning application meeting in March we said that we believed that UKOG was wanting to extend their planning permission simply to avoid the costs of restoring the site. We are pleased to see that WSCC are pursuing the restoration of the site and hope they will continue to insist that the site be restored at the earliest opportunity.”

DrillOrDrop invited UKOG to comment but it did not reply.

Broadford Bridge is one of two UKOG sites in southern England where there is no current planning permission. The Supreme Court quashed permission at the Horse Hill site in Surrey 9n June 2024 after deciding that the consent had been granted unlawfully. Surrey County Council confirmed last week it had not taken formal enforcement  action or issued a stop notice for operations at Horse Hill.

Dates and delays

March 2024 – refusal and urgency

On 19 March 2024, West Sussex councillors voted against UKOG’s fifth application to extend the planning consent at Broadford Bridge.

Three days later James Neave, a county council principal planner, wrote to UKOG’s planning consultant, Nigel Moore. Mr Neave asked for an urgent response about how the company intended to proceed.

Mr Moore replied in the following week, suggesting a phone conversation before Easter.

Mr Neave wrote back on 28 March 2024 saying the county council expected plugging and abandonment of the Broadford Bridge wells and site restoration to “progress as a matter of urgency”.

The email referred to formal enforcement action and set a deadline for a restoration timetable:

“Without prejudice, if the County Council is to consider withholding formal enforcement action/being open to considering any delay to completing restoration, by 15th April 2024 the applicant must provide a detailed proposed timetable for securing all necessary approvals, the plugging of the well, and restoration of the site.”

Mr Moore acknowledged the date and said “ball in our court”.

April 2024 – new dates

On 15 April 2024, Mr Moore wrote a letter to Mr Neave acknowledging “the expectation of urgency”. He said a rig to decommission the wells would be mobilised in early August 2024 and set the estimated date of 18 November 2024 for completion of plugging, abandonment and restoration of the Broadford Bridge site.

But Mr Moore warned:

“technical constraints that come with the acquisition of specialist equipment and staff (that cannot reasonably foreseen by UKOG) can disrupt or delay”.

Mr Neave replied on 18 April 2024 saying the council would “continue to consider its enforcement options to bring about the timely restoration of the site”. He said the council required “identified steps to be progressed as a matter of urgency”.

The following day, Mr Neave sent another email to Mr Moore, but all the content was redacted.

Mr Moore replied briefly on 24 April 2024 saying “UKOG should be with you shortly about the next steps”.

May 2024 – “rig acquisition progressing”

On 1 May 2024, Mr Moore told Mr Neave that UKOG was “progressing” with rig acquisition and would provide an update later in the month. Details about aftercare of the site would be submitted “shortly”, Mr Moore said.

Nine days later, Mr Moore sent Mr Neave UKOG’s strategy for site restoration. This said well abandonment and decommissioning would begin on 5 August 2024 and restoration work would begin on 15 October 2024. Restoration work was still forecast to finish on 18 November 2024.

Mr Neave replied the same day saying UKOG was required to submit a separate aftercare scheme for approval by the council.

On 13 May 2024 Mr Moore wrote that a “key date” would be 5 July 2024 when UKOG hoped to confirm a rig had been secured and would be ready for mobilisation.

Mr Moore submitted the aftercare scheme on 21 May 2024.

June 2024 – aftercare problems

On 18 June 2024, Mr Neave said the aftercare scheme, dealing with management of trees, hedgerows and grassland, did not “have sufficient information to enable the condition to be discharged”. He asked Mr Moore to address six different sections of the scheme.

Mr Moore sent an amended aftercare scheme on 25 June 2024.

July 2024 – aftercare condition discharged

On 5 July 2024 Mr Neave said the council had approved the aftercare scheme and the planning condition had been discharged.

UKOG’s “key date” of 5 July 2024 for securing a rig passed with apparently no written correspondence between the company and the council.

August 2024 – urgent update requested

The estimated date of 5 August 2024 for the start of well abandonment passed, again with apparently no written correspondence from UKOG to the council.

On 16 August 2024 Mr Neave asked for an update and evidence on restoration progress. He asked:

• Has a rig been secured (and placed on standby)?
• Has the well abandonment programme been progressed?
• Have site decommissioning contractors been approved?

On 22 August 2024, Mr Moore told Mr Neave “UKOG were in contact with rig suppliers” and he was waiting for an update on progress. Most of the rest of his email is redacted.

In the following week, Mr Moore sent an update that UKOG was working with a company, name redacted, which he described as “the leader for onshore well servicing operations and workover rig supply in the UK”. The company had made a statement, Mr Moore said, “recording they are running at maximum”.

Two days later, on 29 August 2024, Mr Neave asked Mr Moore, “as a matter of urgency please provide a more substantive update on restoration”. This should be supported with “additional explanations/evidence where necessary”, Mr Neave said.

Mr Neave said the letter from REDACTED (presumably the well services company) “provides very little demonstration that substantive actions are being taken towards the restoration of the site.”

He said:

“If anything, it suggests that there could be further delays. It is assumed that there is more than one company with the necessary specialist staff/equipment to carry out the plugging and abandonment of the well; indeed your submitted timeline suggests this is something that would be put out to tender.”

Mr Neave added:

“Further you have not provided any evidence of further engagement and advance with other regulators that would be necessary to agree a well abandonment programme, nor indicated whether any progress has been made with contractor acquisition for site decommissioning.”

The first paragraph of this email is redacted.

September 2024 – new timeline

Mr Moore emailed Mr Neave on 13 September 2024 about the issues raised in the correspondence on 29 August 2024.

The redacted company was the only onshore UK company who can plug and abandon the wells, Mr Moore said. He added:

“We are chasing REDACTED and I will report back progress”.

Mr Moore said preparatory submissions for plugging and abandonment had also been made to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

He said he and UKOG were preparing a revised timeline to account for the delay with REDACTED. A large section of the rest of the email is also redacted.

October 2024 – “confidential”

On 4 October 2024, Mr Moore sent Mr Neave a revised timeline flagged “confidential”. The timeline trebled the length of time for rig acquisition from 60 to 180 days in “recognition of the supply constraint imposed by REDACTED”.

“Acquisition is now expected before the end of the year”, Mr Moore said. The timeline set the target date for rig acquisition for 20 December 2024. This was more than five months later than the original date of 5 July 2024.

The timeline’s target date for completion of site restoration was now 5 May 2025, more than six months later than the original deadline of 18 November 2024.

But the timeline indicated that the project would not finish until 18 July 2025. The details of the final stage of work appear to have been redacted.

The correspondence also attaches a formal acknowledgement from the HSE of the plugging and abandonment methodology for Broadford Bridge. This document was dated 23 March 2022 and reportedly accepted the methodology unconditionally.

UKOG planned a site visit on 10 October 2024 to Broadford Bridge and invited Mr Neave and the county council’s compliance and enforcement officer, Kirstie May.

The day after the meeting, Mr Moore, asked Mr Neave for a brief update call. Mr Neave reported in an email that he would be meeting council colleagues in the following week to discuss Broadford Bridge.

Mr Moore replied to “informally seek your assurance that WSCC [West Sussex County Council] would not be considering any formal enforcement at this stage”. He said: “This is not what UKOG want and I don’t think it would be necessary given that discussion are on-going REDACTED”. Mr Moore referred to UKOG’s “commitment to resolve these matters as soon as reasonably practicable”.

On the day of the council meeting, (15 October 2024) Mr Neave emailed Mr Moore to offer an online meeting later that week. On 25 October 2024, Mr Moore sent an update to Mr Neave –all the text is redacted.

On 29 October 2024, Mr Neave emailed Mr Moore saying: “Re Enforcement Matters, the County Council will take whatever steps it considers expedient/necessary”. The rest of the email, except the signature, is redacted.

November 2024 – report of site visit

On 1 November 2024, just over a fortnight before the original target for completing work at Broadford Bridge, Kirstie May sent her report on the site visit to UKOG’s chief operating officer, Matt Cartwright.

The report has sections redacted but Ms May said:

“it remains the expectation of this Authority that the land will be restored as required by the approved plan”.

Her report repeated that the company was not compliant with two conditions of the now-expired planning permission. She also referred to the formal enforcement options available in “light of non-compliances on the land”.

DrillOrDrop will report on future developments at the Broadford Bridge site, starting with what happens on 20 December 2024, the target date for rig acquisition.

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