Publication of plans to restart oil production at Horse Hill – suspended after a landmark Supreme Court ruling – is unlikely for several weeks.

UK Oil & Gas plc, majority owner of the Horse Hill operator, announced early this month that it had submitted a new planning application.

But so far, the proposal has not been published.

The application seeks to replace planning permission, quashed in June 2024 by the Supreme Court.

The court’s judgement, now known as the Finch Ruling, decided the permission for long-term oil production and new wells was unlawful.

The ruling said the decisionmaker, Surrey County Council, failed to take into account the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the use of Horse Hill oil.

The county council told DrillOrDrop today publication of the new application and a public consultation were expected late this month (May 2026) or early next month (June 2026).

A Surrey County Council spokesperson said:

“Further environmental and planning information was submitted by the applicant on 30 April 2026 in support of planning application ref: Ref: RE18/02667/CON which remains with the County Planning Authority (CPA) for determination. This follows the quashing of the original decision by the Supreme Court in June 2024. The submission was in response to a request from the CPA for the provision of additional information.

“Once the submission has been reviewed to ensure all the information requested has been provided by the applicant, there is a process to go through and arrangements that need to be put in place before publicity and consultation can begin. This process is more complicated for applications such as this which are accompanied by an Environmental Statement and the process needs to be undertaken alongside other work priorities.

“We estimate that online publication and public consultation are likely to take place towards the end of this month or in the early part of June.”