Agenda item

The Executive at its meeting on 18 July 2022 resolved to apply to the High Court seeking permission to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision of 7 June 2022 to grant planning permission at Loxley Well under s.288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and to authorise officers to make the necessary virement to meet the Council’s external legal costs of up to £13,500 (excluding VAT and disbursements) up to the permission stage.

The Council’s initial application for permission to challenge the SoS’s decision was unsuccessful on the papers and the Council made a renewed application for an oral hearing which took place on 2 March 2023. At the oral hearing the Council was successful, and the Council was granted permission to proceed to substantive hearing on one of its grounds of challenge.

This report asks the Executive to decide whether to proceed to substantive hearing at the High Court on 8^th June 2023, with a time estimate of 1 day, to challenge the decision of the Secretary of State (SoS) made on 7 June 2022 to grant planningpermission atLoxley Welland, ifthe Executiveresolves todo so,to authorise officersto makethe necessaryvirement tomeet the Council’s external legal costs ofup to£32,500 and a portion of the SoS’s and UKOG’s legal costs of up to £50,000 in the event the Council is unsuccessful and is ordered to pay a portion of their costs.

Recommendation

i.             The Executive considers whether to proceed to a substantive hearing at the High Court on 8 June 2023 to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision of 7 June 2022 to grant planning permission at Loxley Well under s.288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

ii.            And, if the Executive resolves to do so, to authorise officers to make the necessary virement to meet the Council’s external legal costs of up to £32,500 and the SoS’s and UKOGs legal costs of up to £50,000 in the event the Council is unsuccessful and is ordered to pay a portion of their costs.

The Executive RESOLVED

i.          to proceed to a substantive hearing at the High Court on 8 June 2023 to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision of 7 June 2022 to grant planning permission at Loxley Well under s.288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990; and,

ii.         authorised officers to make the necessary virement to meet the Council’s external legal costs of up to £32,500 and the SoS’s and UKOGs legal costs of up to £50,000 in the event the Council is unsuccessful and is ordered to pay a portion of their costs; and,

iii.        asked the Joint Chief Executive to contact Dunsfold and Alfold Parish Councils to inform them of these resolutions and explore whether those Parish Councils wish to offer their substantive support.

Reason: To continue the Council’s opposition to the grant of planning permission to UKOG for drilling at Loxley Well, Dunsfold. Since holding a Listening Panel in July 2019 and hearing the concerns of local residents and businesses, and considering the wider environmental concerns, the Council has consistently expressed its opposition to any oil and gas drilling at the site. In September 2019, the Council declared a Climate Emergency and opposition to UKOG’s planning permission is consistent with that declaration. Given the potential significance of the outcome of the Judicial Review, the Executive consider it a moral imperative to continue its legal challenge.

[Overview & Scrutiny Committee – Resources]

The Leader, Cllr Paul Follows, introduced the item highlighting the decision for the Executive on whether to proceed to a substantive hearing at the High Court, weighing up the legal advice provided and the potential costs.

Cllr Steve Williams, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Sustainability, opened his remarks by thanking representatives from Protect Dunsfold for their attendance at the Executive meeting. Cllr Williams noted that Waverley Borough Council had been working to protect Dunsfold from the UKOG development since 2019, when the council had held a Listening Panel to hear directly from residents and business owners about the potential impact of Loxley Well. The Listening Panel had also heard about the wider environmental concerns of the local impacts of drilling, and the moral case against enabling fossil fuel extraction in the face of a global climate emergency. Waverley’s representations to Surrey County Council in objection to the UKOG drilling application were made against the background of the Council’s own Climate Emergency Declaration in September 2019.

Waverley Borough Council had been a steadfast and active partner in the opposition to the planning application, including its role as a Rule 6 party to the UKOG appeal against the refusal of planning, and in joining with Protect Dunsfold and the Good Law Project to apply for Judicial Review of the Secretary of State’s decision to allow planning permission. At the High Court hearing on 2 March 2023 a Judicial Review had been granted on three grounds, and there was a moral imperative to continue the fight to protect Dunsfold, and proceed to the High Court hearing on 8 June.

Cllrs Liz Townsend, Mark Merryweather and Peter Clark all spoke in support of continuing the legal challenge and echoed the words of Cllr Williams in supporting the residents of Dunsfold, protecting the local environment, and being consistent with the council’s climate emergency declaration. The oral hearing on 2 March 2023 had established that there were questions to be answered and it would be wrong for the Council to step back at this point.

The Executive RESOLVED

i.          to proceed to a substantive hearing at the High Court on 8 June 2023 to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision of 7 June 2022 to grant planning permission at Loxley Well under s.288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990; and,

ii.         authorised officers to make the necessary virement to meet the Council’s external legal costs of up to £32,500 and the SoS’s and UKOGs legal costs of up to £50,000 in the event the Council is unsuccessful and is ordered to pay a portion of their costs; and,

iii.        asked the Joint Chief Executive to contact Dunsfold and Alfold Parish Councils to inform them of these resolutions and explore whether those Parish Councils wish to offer their substantive support.

Reason: To continue the Council’s opposition to the grant of planning permission to UKOG for drilling at Loxley Well, Dunsfold. Since holding a Listening Panel in July 2019 and hearing the concerns of local residents and businesses, and considering the wider environmental concerns, the Council has consistently expressed its opposition to any oil and gas drilling at the site. In September 2019, the Council declared a Climate Emergency and opposition to UKOG’s planning permission is consistent with that declaration. Given the potential significance of the outcome of the Judicial Review, the Executive consider it a moral imperative to continue its legal challenge.