CLIMATE Change Emergency campaigners have condemned Surrey County Council’s lead environment member for his apparent support for an application to drill for oil and gas in Dunsfold.

Councillor Mike Goodman, who successfully proposed Surrey declare a Climate Change Emergency in July, has been widely criticised for his “completely incompatible” response to Waverley Borough Council’s objections to drilling.

Responding to councillor Steve Williams, environmental portfolio holder and his opposite number at Waverley, in a letter copied to all county councillors, Mr Goodman sparked outrage on two fronts – by dismissing reasons to refuse raised at the borough council’s information-gathering listening panel and condoning continued fossil fuels extraction.

Mr Goodman wrote: ‘Thank you for your letter outlining the outcome of your listening panel. Although you have chosen to engage with the public in this way, it is not a formal part of the county council’s consultation or decision making in respect of this proposal.

‘We have also received the formal planning consultation response from Waverley Borough Council which will be taken into account in the determination of this application.

‘National planning policy recognises the benefits of mineral extraction, including to the economy. This includes hydrocarbons.

‘The country is moving to a low-carbon future and, over time, the use of fossil fuels will rightly be phased out. This cannot happen overnight, however, and there will still be a need for hydrocarbons during the transition... In view of this, there is still a place for locally produced oil and gas for the immediate future.’

Mr Williams chaired the listening panel and had written to Cllr Goodman and Surrey planning committee members detailing objections raised at the panel, which UKOG was invited to attend but declined.

Cllr Williams said Cllr Goodman’s response was “clearly a challenge to Waverley’s position on the drilling and shows utter contempt for a very carefully developed process of gauging the views of Waverley residents.

“I am shocked by Councillor Goodman’s apparent support for ‘indigenous sources of oil and gas’ rather than an advocacy of sustainable energy, following Surrey County Council’s declaration of a climate emergency.”

Agreeing, Natasha Fletcher, climate emergency co-ordinator, South West Surrey Constituency Labour Party (see letters, Page 24), said it was “making a mockery of any climate emergency that Cllr Goodman so rightly and proudly hailed in early July.”