April 25, 2019 4.15 pm This story is over 59 months old

Inquiry into council’s oil drilling rights refusal

The council has refused the company three times
The oil well in Wressle, North Lincolnshire.

A public inquiry will be held after a council rejected a plan by Egdon Resources to continue drilling for oil in North Lincolnshire.

North Lincolnshire Council turned down a bid from the company to drill at a well at Lodge Farm near Wressle back in November 2018.

Now, the government’s Planning Inspectorate, which deals with planning appeals, will hold a public inquiry into the decision.

The inquiry is expected to sit for six days from November 5, 2019, following an appeal submitted by Egdon.

Centre: Mark Abbott, managing director of Egdon Resources. Picture: Calvin Robinson

Planning Inspector, Phillip Ware, will chair the inquiry, but a venue has yet to be confirmed.

The proposal would have seen Egdon retain the well site for 15 years.

But councillors unanimously turned down the plan and raised concern about the “negative impact” on residents in the area.

Campaigners against the oil well at Wressle demonstrate outside North Lincolnshire Council in November 2018. Picture: Calvin Robinson.

It was the third time the council had rejected plans from the company.

Egdon have maintained that the proposal “comprehensively” addressed previous concerns raised by the authority.

Mark Abbott, managing director of the firm, said the company looked forward to putting their case to the inspector.

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