This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Block the application for exploratory oil drilling on the Isle of Wight
New fossil fuel extraction does not align with the Government's commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050 and the Government has now set a precedent with the Cumbria Coal Mine that new fossil fuel extraction can be blocked by act of Parliament.
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The decision on whether or not to grant the planning application to UKOG would usually be the responsibility of the Isle of Wight Council, however the Government stepped in to block to development of the Cumbria coal mine recently and thus a precedent has been set that the Government can assert itself over council decisions. Furthermore, UKOG has submitted a separate application to the Environment Agency which could take the decision out of the hands of the IOW Council.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has the power to take over (‘call in’) planning applications rather than letting the local authority decide, but once a decision has been called in there is a set process that has to be followed: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/planning-applications-called-in-decisions-and-recovered-appeals
This is what has happened in respect of planning permission for the West Cumbria Coal Mine: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/decision-to-call-in-west-cumbria-coal-mine
We could accept a petition calling for this decision to be called in, but could not accept a petition that prejudged the outcome of this process.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.