REG - UK Oil & Gas PLC - High Court upholds Loxley planning consent

UK Oil & GasAnnouncement

14/10/2022 07:16

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RNS Number : 9215C  UK Oil & Gas PLC  14 October 2022

UK Oil & Gas PLC

("UKOG" or the "Company")

 

High Court upholds Loxley planning consent

 

UK Oil & Gas PLC (London AIM: UKOG) is pleased to announce that by order
of the Honourable Mrs Justice Lang DBE, the High Court has rejected legal
challenges by Protect Dunsfold and Waverley Borough Council against the
Secretary of State's decision to grant planning permission for Loxley, the
 conventional gas and hydrogen feedstock project in Surrey. Loxley planning
consent therefore remains in full force and the Company's plans to implement
the project remain unchanged.

Mrs Justice Lang considered both challenges as "unarguable" and ordered
Waverley and Protect Dunsfold to pay costs of £8,835 and £3,000
respectively.

 

This follows the decision in June of this year by the Right Hon Stuart Andrew
MP, Minister for Housing acting for the Secretary of State ("SoS") for
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to overturn Surrey County Council's
("SCC") refusal of planning consent.

UKOG has consistently stated that Loxley can play its part in the government's
Hydrogen and British Energy Security Strategies via the supply of its gas as
feedstock for reformation into clean burning hydrogen.

 

It is the Company's and its legal counsel's view that, whilst further
challenges by either claimant are to be expected, the emphatic rulings of both
the SoS and Justice Lang make the likelihood of their success highly
doubtful.  In any case, the Company will continue to rigorously defend its
position in any subsequent action as and when it may occur.

 

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG Chief Executive, commented:

 

"We welcome this further emphatic legal decision upholding planning consent
for the Company's material conventional gas and hydrogen feedstock project in
Surrey. Whilst we fully accept the right to review such material decisions,
 it cannot be fair or just that opponents to the decision are given so many
opportunities to make the same argument repeatedly and seemingly regardless of
prior dismissals. We therefore urge the government to swiftly implement its
proposed changes to the planning system for key infrastructure projects if it
is serious about delivering energy self-sufficiency and associated meaningful
economic growth."

 

For further information, please contact:

   UK Oil & Gas PLC
   Stephen Sanderson / Allen D Howard / Guzyal Mukhametzhanova         Tel: 01483 941493

   WH Ireland Ltd (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
   James Joyce / Andrew de Andrade                                     Tel: 020 7220 1666

   Communications
   Brian Alexander                                                     Tel: 01483 941493

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
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virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("MAR"). Upon
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