Dear John

I’ve got some wonderful news from the Supreme Court. We’ve been part of another huge legal victory – our second this week and third in the last 2 months [1]. This time we helped show that a decision to allow oil drilling in Surrey was unlawful. The crucial factor? The climate impact of burning that oil.

We all feel so proud – and so should you. It’s thanks to thousands of you that we were able to support this legal challenge – brought by former Surrey resident Sarah Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group.

Sarah challenged Surrey County Council over its decision to grant planning permission for oil drilling at Horse Hill.

And today the Supreme Court judges have ruled that the council acted unlawfully by granting planning permission without considering the climate impact when the oil is inevitably burned. It has quashed the planning permission.

The decision could have significant implications for all new fossil fuel developments in the UK. Including proposals for a controversial new coal mine in Cumbria – that many of you have opposed.

If you can please help us celebrate today’s victory by super-charging our next one. Setting up a monthly donation can help us keep fighting for the climate in court for years to come.

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Today’s result is another fantastic step towards a fossil-free future. And a truly historic victory for Sarah and all the volunteers in the Weald Action Group after their 5-year court fight. We feel honoured to have intervened in this case from the start.

But our fight to end the era of fossil fuels isn’t over. There are more legal battles to be won to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Once and for all.

In 2022 the UK government allowed proposals to open the UK’s first deep coal mine in over 30 years in Whitehaven, Cumbria. We’ll be at our long-awaited hearing in July to fight to stop the dirty coal project from going ahead. Today’s ruling on oil drilling at Horse Hill gives us further hope that we can stop the Whitehaven coal mine in its tracks as well.

So, please join us with a monthly donation today.

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We’ll be back in touch about the Whitehaven coal mine hearing. But right now please celebrate the Weald Action Group’s monumental success for people and planet. We couldn’t have done it without your help.

In triumph, 
Katie de Kauwe
Lawyer, Friends of the Earth

Sarah Finch celebrating the victory outside the court

NOTES:

[1] Earlier this week we got the amazing news that our Northern Ireland team, along with our friends at No Gas Caverns, won their legal appeal over plans to construct 7 massive, environmentally damaging gas storage caverns underneath Larne Lough.

And last month we scored a huge legal win when the High Court ruled the UK government’s inadequate climate strategy to be unlawful. And ordered the next government to produce a new one by 2 May.

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