New oil well near Gainsborough granted planning permission

Existing pumps on land near the site of the new oil well

A new oil well is to be built in Lincolnshire after the plans were approved by councillors.

The temporary well will be built on land west of the village of Glentworth, near Gainsborough, and will operate for up to 21 years.

Environmental campaigners and some residents objected to the plans, and voiced fears about increased traffic.

But IGas Energy PLC said it was a responsible company and that the scheme would secure a domestic supply of oil.

Lincolnshire County Council approved the plans at a meeting on Monday, which was also attended by protesters from environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion.

Exploratory work will take place over 10 months and production testing will take a further 12 months, before a decision is made on extending the well and installing a pipeline.

John Latham, chairman of Glentworth Parish Council, told councillors he feared the development would mean more than 100 extra lorries a day would use village roads and that their decision should support a "low carbon" future.

"There is no support whatsoever for the development in this village, the responses to the plans on the county council's planning website are clear regardless of any claims that have been made to the contrary," he said.

"The road is barely two lanes with no solid verge or kerb on one side. Just a few days of movements at this scale is likely to mean that the surface and edges deteriorate, making the roads increasingly unsafe."

Residents and environmental protesters objected to the plans for a new oil well

Lincolnshire County Council's highways officers had initially objected but withdrew their concerns after the developer agreed to improve the roads around the site.

Tony Bryan, development director for IGas, said the company had been environmentally responsible for decades.

"This application is the latest step in our long and successful history utilising our considerable experience in onshore drilling and field development," he said.

Councillor Tom Ashton said: "This is a type of industry that Lincolnshire has been familiar with for a very long time."

He said existing pumps had been on site with "very little impact on the landscape" and that he would rather have oil which was locally sourced than "being shipped from the far side of the world".