Oil company to drill in ancient Sussex woodland

Conservationists reacted angrily today to Sussex county council's decision to grant an oil company permission to prospect in a protected area of the Douth Downs.

Northern Petroleum was granted a temporary three-year consent to test in Markswell Wood in the village of Forestdale, near Chichester. Council officers said that there was a "clear and overriding need" for oil exploration but that the company would have to seek further permission to extract oil.

But the Woodland Trust condemned the decision saying it was "an act of vandalism". "Markswell Wood is 11 hectares of ancient woodland within the beautiful Sussex Downs area of outstanding natural beauty. The council has given the go-ahead for the initial destruction of a hectare of ancient woodland, the richest habitat for species in the UK, the UK's equivalent of rainforests.

"The complex undisturbed soils are irreplaceable and once destroyed, are lost forever. This is a worrying example of local government putting the search for money before safeguarding irreplaceable natural heritage."

Chichester district council, the South Downs joint committee and Friends of the Earth have also said they are against the plan, but the government's statutory advisers, Natural England and the Environment Agency, have not objected.

The south coast of England is known to have several small scale onshore oil deposits, the largest of which by far is at Wych farm in Dorset. BP Exploration operates this oilfield in Purbeck, producing approximately 85,000 barrels of oil a day. This is Western Europe's largest onshore field.

There have continual explorations for oil off the Isle of Wight and the Dorset coast with plans at one stage for an artificial island to be constructed in the English channel.

The soaring price of oil, which last week reached a record £62 a barrel, has made the development of "micro" oilfields potentially viable.