PLANS are in the pipeline to drill for oil in the heart of a Dorset wildlife haven.

Members of Dorset County Council's planning committee meet on Friday to consider a proposal to drill on land on the edge of Oakers Wood at Waddock Cross, between Affpuddle and Moreton - a site of special scientific interest.

The application, from Egdon Resources, is for a single bore hole down to a depth of 700 metres, which would be used to carry out tests for oil.

Once the bore-hole has been dug a nodding-donkey type pump will be installed on the site, but only if tests for oil are considered appropriate.

If tests are not thought necessary the hole will be filled and the land restored.

Any tests for oil would be

carried out for between three and six months and any oil found on the site will be stored in tanks and removed by tankers.

The meeting will be told that English Nature is concerned about the effect the drilling might have on some rare lichens found on trees near the site and that it has raised objections.

But following a site visit planning officers believe the agency now considers the proposal acceptable - a verbal report on their views will be given at the meeting.

If the proposal goes ahead, monitoring stations would be set up by English Nature around the site and in the woods.

Andrew Price, head of planning for Dorset County Council, says in a report to the committee that similar tests were carried out on the site in the 1980s but the quantities of oil produced were below commercial flow rates.

He said that once the tests have been completed it would be easy to restore the land to agricultural use.

He said: "It has been understood from the outset by the applicants that any approval of an exploration well site in no way commits the county council to allowing the site to become a production facility if hydrocarbons are found in commercial quantities."

He has recommended that the director of environmental services be given delegated powers to grant permission, subject to conditions.