Weald Action Group

🚨 URGENT: The NPPF consultation is critical chance to lock in stronger climate-friendly planning restrictions for onshore oil, gas and coal

⏳ Deadline to submit: 10 March 2026

We’ve produced a short briefing on the key fossil fuel questions.

Scan the QR, or visit tinyurl.com/NPPF2026

Climate change is a public law issue  - Public Law Project Ahead of our upcoming ‘Public Law and the Planet’ conference on Tuesday 3 March 2026, PLP is turning its focus to the global fight against climate change and why public law is one of the most powerful...

Some of us are going to the Public Law and the Planet conference next week. With sessions on policing protest, data rights, planning law, funding and much more. And the Weald Action Group's Sarah Finch is on a panel on effective use of the law by communities.

publiclawproject.org.uk/latest/clima...

Climate Change: Weald Action Group Podcast Episode · 100 Campaigns that Changed the World · 24 February · 36m

From a quiet corner of rural England to the Supreme Court. This episode shows how @wealdactiongroup.bsky.social took on oil companies and changed UK climate law. With
@smkcampaigners.bsky.social
campaigner of the year, @sarahfinch.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

We have written to the Prime Minister and Secretaries of State Steve Reed and Ed Miliband asking them NOT to implement two recommendations from a controversial review of nuclear regulation. Read our letter here:

www.wealdactiongroup.org.uk/2026/02/lett...

‘More influential than Urgenda’: UK Finch ruling 20 months on “I've become quite the celebrity in the small world of climate litigation,” laughs Sarah Finch, an environmental activist who won a landmark climate lawsuit that has made big waves in the UK and furth...

In 2024, we had a big win in the Supreme Court over the climate impact of coal, oil & gas.

20 months on, it’s has had a huge impact, in the UK and beyond.

But it’s about to face a test. Will the govt re-approve Rosebank?

Review by @isabellakaminski.bsky.social

www.the-wave.net/finch-uk-cli...

The Fingleton Review has tempted the government to scrap hard won environmental protections This post is by Sarah Finch, a climate campaigner, who won a landmark legal victory in 2024 over greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel developments. When the economist John Fingleton and his ta…

The PM wants to scrap laws that protect nature.

Wildlife charities are campaigning against some of these threats. I’m also concerned about threats to the environmental impact assessment and judicial reviews regimes.

My blog for @green-alliance.org.uk

greenallianceblog.org.uk/2026/02/19/t...

Why? Because it’s nonsense! Any new wells would deliver ~0.02% of UK oil

not anything significant, not energy security, just crumbs. .･:･:･:･:･:.

Proof that digging into the detail and challenging industry spin still works! 🏆

Screenshot from the Updated Hampshire Minerals & Waste Plan showing text that was deleted thanks to the submission by the Weald Action Group and Markwells Wood Watch

📢 Campaign win in Hampshire 📢

We’ve just had misleading pro-oil language stripped out of the Hampshire Minerals & Waste Plan!

The claim that onshore oil “makes an important contribution to supply” and benefits from being close to centres of demand, has been deleted.

Revealed: oil industry lobbyist working inside UK’s climate department Polanski slams arrangement; experts warn of 'corporate infiltration antithetical to democracy'

Outrageous.

Ministers should be listening to scientists, frontline communities and those working towards a green transition – not hosting the interests of oil giants in their own offices.

✍🏼 - @adamramsay.bsky.social

abolishwestminster.substack.com/p/revealed-o...

@wealdactiongroup.bsky.social is considering legal action over methane emissions from onshore oil & gas sites.

We've written to DESNZ and the Environment Agency. Depending on their response, we may bring a claim for judicial review. Read more ⬇️

www.wealdactiongroup.org.uk/2026/01/new-...

Managing methane is crucial for slowing climate breakdown. Yet current policy allows routine venting and flaring at onshore oil & gas sites. Regulators must end this, to align with rules for offshore sites – and require robust monitoring and reporting.

www.wealdactiongroup.org.uk/2026/01/new-...

A camera screen showing methane emissions from a flare stack

We have taken the first steps in a legal action over methane pollution from onshore oil and gas. Our lawyers have sent a formal letter to DESNZ and the Environment Agency about failures in the Methane Action Plan, and long-running weak regulation at oil sites such as Horndean in Sussex.

Who drilled where in 2025? The UK onshore industry drilled no oil and gas wells during 2025, according to official data.

The UK onshore industry drilled no oil and gas wells during 2025. This is just the second time in more than 100 years that no onshore wells were drilled in a calendar year.

We are winning.

Reporting by @drillordrop.bsky.social

drillordrop.com/2026/01/01/w...

Happy new year!

2025 was quite a year for us. We saw continuing impacts of our 2024 Supreme Court win, and renewed debate on the vexed definition of fracking. And we started work on a new campaign on methane.

Read the highlights: www.wealdactiongroup.org.uk/2025/12/2025...

(Photo: Uplift)

Merry Christmas Drill or Drop! Thank you for all your great work over the year (and every year).

Everyone interested in onshore oil & gas, follow @drillordrop.bsky.social for incisive reporting on all aspects of the industry, and the fight against it.

Thank you!

Petition: Ban "small-scale fracking" for onshore oil and gas Fracking forces fluid into rocks to open cracks so oil or gas can flow out. It was banned in 2019 after being blamed for causing earthquakes in shale gas drilling. But the ban only covers fracking wit...

Ban small-scale fracking for onshore oil and gas!

This petition by Burniston campaigners already triggered a parliamentary debate. Please show the strength of feeling on this issue by signing it and sharing in your networks.

Closing date 4 January 2026

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/72...

Surprise Surprise, UKOG have *still* not come forward with their revised application for Horse Hill. “We can expect that now in the early part of the new year...”

Do @surreycc.gov.uk realise UKOG is just stringing them along to avoid restoring the site (as they are doing at Broadford Bridge)?

Two oil companies drop their appeal against the refusal of planning permission to produce oil at Biscathorpe.

Just a week after receiving objections from us, @sosbiscathorpe.bsky.social and others.

The industry is realising there is no justification for investment in onshore oil and gas.

After five years of setbacks, Sarah Finch finally won.
Her message isn’t about easy victories. It’s about persistence and believing that one action can trigger a tipping point in the right direction.

Hear Sarah’s story on the EQUALS Podcast: www.equals.ink/p/a-hopeful-...

#ClimateJustice

The Supreme Court ruling on our case was clear: developers must provide "comprehensive and high-quality information about the likely significant environmental effects of a project". Equinor has not done this.

The Secretary of State cannot grant consent on the basis of this misleading statement.

We say they used a faulty approach to assessing the significance of the scope 3 emissions.

They failed to assess the effects on things like biodiversity and human health.

And they failed to consider the cumulative effects with all the other existing and planned oil and gas sites

We sent a damning response to the consultation on the Rosebank oil field.

Rosebank's oil could generate 254 million tonnes of CO₂e equivalent over its lifetime. Equinor's claim this would "not cause significant harm" is dishonest.

www.wealdactiongroup.org.uk/2025/11/weal...

Trade unionists say: Stop Rosebank! If you are a trade union member, please add your name to this open letter to oppose approval of the Rosebank oil field. Signatories will be published. There is no strict cut-off point to sign, but we ...

Are you a member of a trade union?

Trade unionists are calling on the Labour government to do the right thing by the planet, UK communities and workers, and refuse approval for the climate-wrecking Rosebank oil field.

Sign the open letter 👇
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Listen to Sarah Finch talk about how we made history in the Supreme Court, forcing fossil fuel companies to face the full climate impact of their projects.

Our win is now facing its biggest test: Rosebank. The govt must reject this climate-wrecking project once and for all

@stopcambo.bsky.social

Every year, millions of tonnes of methane are vented, burned, and leaked from UK onshore oil sites. Most fields use ancient, leaky equipment. They are severely underregulated.

The Methane Action Plan is a good start, but we need mandatory methane regulations for the onshore fossil fuel industry.

A camera screen showing methane emissions from a flare stack

Good news! The govt has published its long-awaited Methane Action Plan.

Bad news! It ignores onshore oil and gas production.

Every year, millions of tonnes of methane are vented, burned, and leaked from UK onshore oil sites
www.wealdactiongroup.org.uk/2025/10/meth...

Decision time: Tell Keir to #StopRosebank This is the moment we've been building towards: it's final decision time for the UK Government. Equinor is trying to get the new Rosebank oil field re-approved. It's up to us all to convince the Gover...

The facts are clear. Rosebank would help oil giants, not working people or the planet.

We deserve clean, affordable energy that works for everyone

Tell Starmer to back renewables and reject Rosebank👇
actionnetwork.org/forms/the-government-wants-to-hear-from-you-on-equinors-application-for-rosebank

"Until these systemic issues are addressed, planning for onshore energy projects will continue to feel less like a democratic process and more like an endurance test for those who care most about the places they live."

So true. The onshore oil & gas permitting regime needs a thorough overhaul.

Bad idea!

The ability to request judicial review is a vital safeguard against the govt making bad decisions and ignoring environmental rules & agreements.

Without the Aarhus Convention, @wealdactiongroup.bsky.social and I would not have been able to bring our case on oil production at Horse Hill