PLANS to build an oil well in the Dorset countryside have been withdrawn - following objections from campaigners for the scheme.
South Western Energy Ltd (SWEL) withdrew its application to drill a vertical oil well just off the A354 Puddletown to Blandford road a mile north of historic Athelhampton House.
The application, which was first submitted in December 2019, said the company would drill a single vertical conventional oil well into the Cornbrash Bridport Sands and Sherwood Sandstone formations.
The company sought to cover all the three phases of exploration in one application, but planning regulations recommend separate applications for the different phases.
SWEL had previously described the initial application as 'a farm diversification scheme' that would generate employment and energy.
The company said production would 'not have had any impact on communities or environment through proper management of the planning and environmental permitting procedures'.
Although the company has withdrawn the initial applications, new plans will be submitted to meet the changes need.
A spokesman from SWEL said: "We will be submitting a new application which will include the extra information requested together with some changes to the site design to cater for higher output given the geopolitical situation relating to oil and gas supplies in the UK in the future."
If plans are approved and sufficient oil is found, an oil well could be in operation for up to 25 years.
The local Puddletown Area Parish Council had objected to the application and over 1,700 people signed a petition organised by the Fossil Fuel Free Dorset calling on Dorset Council to reject the application.
When the application was first made back in 2019 local people came together in the village hall to express their concern and a campaign to stop the application was launched.
Campaign supporters went out doing leafletting and engaged with people in Dorchester by holding stalls in the main street.
Campaign spokeswoman Julie-Ann Booker said: "Objectors raised various issues including failure to go through the right planning application process.
"If SWEL do come back with a new proposal we’re ready for a further round in this long running saga which has never even cleared the basic permitting hurdles.
"It just shows what community opposition can achieve."
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