DORSET Council climate change champion, Cllr Ray Bryan, says the authority is powerless to stop fossil-fuel applications in the county.

His response came to a question from campaigner Len Herbert at the full council meeting.

Mr Herbert said the council’s commitment to tackle the climate and ecological emergency included moving away from fossil fuels – and with that in mind could it prohibit any new attempts to exploit underground fossil-fuel resources in Dorset?

“Since Dorset Council published its (Climate Change) report in July last year it has become clear that the climate and ecological emergency is intensifying. The head of the United Nations describes the latest report by the UN’s climate agency as 'code red for humanity'.

"Antonio Guterres says: 'The alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible. This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet.'"

Cllr Bryan, the brief holder for climate change, said the council was required to assess any developments requiring planning permission, taking account of national and local policy including the environmental implications.

“Government has not revoked any of the petroleum exploration licences issued in Dorset or elsewhere, and National Planning Policy does not indicate that Mineral Planning Authorities should stop planning for oil and gas extraction.  This means that we cannot simply prohibit all fossil fuel exploitation in the area but must consider each proposal on its merits,” said Cllr Bryan.

The council is currently in the process of considering an application for an oil well off the Athelhampton Road near Puddletown, which had attracted dozens of objections.

Campaigners have recently been out in Dorchester asking people to object to the application from Southwestern Energy, the deadline for comments expiring earlier this month.

The company claim in their submission that the well will reduce carbon emissions by offsetting the carbon footprint of having to import oil to the UK.