Officials have supported plans for more drilling and oil production at a mothballed site in rural Dorset.

The site, at Waddock Cross, between Wareham and Dorchester, was suspended in 2014 after producing oil for less than a year.

But the operator, Egdon Resources, is now seeking permission to resume production and extract oil until June 2033. It also wants to drill a sidetrack well and two new boreholes.

Dorset Council planners have recommended approval with 27 conditions.

The local parish council, Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle, objected to the proposal. There was also opposition from the Weald Action Group, Purbeck and Poole CPRE Group and from 17 individual comments.

The application will be decided at a meeting of the council’s strategic planning committee on Tuesday 23 September 2025.

The Waddock Cross oilfield was discovered in 1982 but the first well (WX-1) was plugged and abandoned. Egdon Resources drilled a further two wells (WX-2 in 2003 and WX-3 in 2005). Production from these later wells had a high water content and was considered commercially unviable.

Later planning permissions allowed for three more wells but these were never drilled. The most recent permission expired in 2023.

Details

A planners’ report to next week’s planning committee said:

“Extending the duration of the development until 2033 would be within the transition period towards net zero in 2050 and would be acceptable in principle.”

It added that the “an acknowledged contribution to greenhouse gas emissions” was “not considered to be significant on a county or UK level”.

The planners also said wildlife on and around the site would not be “adversely affected”, traffic movements would be low, and conditions would control impacts on nearby residents, an adjacent wood, landscape character, groundwater and local roads.

The application complied with local planning policy and there were no reasons to refuse permission, the planners concluded.

Concerns about the application included climate change, oil spills, increased traffic and the prospect of significant commercial oil production.

The Weald Action Group said of the application:

“It is clearly a steppingstone to re-evaluating the site’s commercial potential with the prospect of significant oil production resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.”

The group argued that the council had failed to comply with its mineral policy that requires wellsites to be restored at the “earliest practicable opportunity if oil and gas extraction is found not to be economically viable”.

The local CPRE group said the application “fails to respect the local public interests” in avoiding unnecessary working of oil resources, protecting a rural location and vulnerable nature conservation site from harm and protecting the water environment.

• DrillOrDrop will report on the council’s decision.

Link to application

Link to committee agenda