GREEN campaigners have called on MPs and councils to fight the latest proposals to extract gas and oil from a number of new sites in Dorset.

The Oil and Gas Authority recently announced a formal consultation on 132 areas where licences to drill have been applied for.

Eight of these ‘block’ sites are within Purbeck, with two of them stretching into neighbouring East Dorset – and it remains unknown whether any of these blocks will attract applications to frack for shale oil or gas.

The areas that could be affected include Piddlehinton, Bere Regis, St Alban’s Head, Corfe Castle, Lytchett Matravers, Corfe Mullen and Swanage.

Angela Pooley, of East Dorset Friends of the Earth, says any drilling would have a “serious impact” on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.

She’s calling for MPs – specifically “those strongly opposing the offshore windfarm” – to join them in fighting the proposals as “these will surely have a much greater impact.”

The government decision on the Navitus Bay wind farm scheme is set to be made by September 11.

Meanwhile, this latest oil and gas consultation announcement comes as the Department of Energy and Climate Change, under the same assessment, agreed 27 locations in England where licences to frack for shale oil and gas will be offered.

However, while Dorset County Council cannot rule out the possibility of fracking applications being lodged, Mrs Pooley believes it is unlikely the licences could lead to the controversial process in Dorset, because of the delicate geology of the Purbeck coast.

Each area identified also includes a 10km ‘potential zone of impact’ that stretches, in places, to Poole & Bournemouth, and along the Purbeck Coast including areas such as Studland and Old Harry Rocks.

If the sites identified in Dorset are awarded licences, licensees will have exclusive rights to search, bore for and extract petroleum.

However, they would still need to apply for the necessary permission to carry out any activities.

In 2013 Dorset County Council (DCC) granted permission to extend oil production at Purbeck’s Wytch Farm - Europe’s largest onshore oil field - for a further 21 years.

County Hall also agreed, last year, planning permission for an exploratory gas well to be drilled at California Quarry, near Swanage. The company behind this project, which it has since postponed, insists the drilling will not involve fracking.

Mrs Pooley said: “We shouldn’t be going towards more fossil fuels, we should be looking at investing in more renewables.

“We need to cut our carbon emissions and deal with climate change.

“In an area like the Dorset coast or the Isle of Wight do people really want to see more oil extraction? It seems to me the government is taking the easy option at a time when we should be seriously looking at reducing our energy usage.”

Visit www.gov.uk/government/consultations for full oil and gas site consultation details.

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