Anyone can object, you don’t have to be from Balcombe.

Our previous update gives detailed guidance, but we’d like to draw your attention to:

Policy M7a of the West Sussex Joint Minerals Plan which states that oil and gas development should only be allowed in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty if it is in the public interest and if there are exceptional circumstances. It also says impacts of HGV’s should be considered and impacts on water and air quality should be limited to an acceptable level.

By this statement alone work should not be allowed in Balcombe. The traffic will have significant impacts, the air quality will be reduced and the work simply does not need to be done. The amount of oil here is so fractional that it will make little/no difference to general levels of UK oil production as Angus Energy informed us that wells similar to Balcombe were ‘not game changers’ and comparable to a ‘cottage industry’.

This does not sound like an exceptional circumstance that justifies the level of disruption to our village and the contribution to climate change caused by the work.

It is not in the public interest, and the more people object, the more this point is proved.

If you do nothing else, please just go to the WSCC consultation window fill in your name and click the pull arrow on the right to choose ‘object’.

Thank you

Photo shows a lorry that was so big it got caught in trees as it went through the village. The driver also had to get out and walk on the roof to lift the power cable that was touching it safely over.

https://westsussex.planning-register.co.uk/Planning/Comment/WSCC/071/19