Money over morality may see woodland destroyed in search for oil
A shit-storm is building over permission to dig for oil in the beautiful South Downs having been granted to a petroleum company by West Sussex County Council, despite it being a designated area of outstanding natural beauty.
Northern Petroleum is set to drill an oil well in Markwells Wood, an ancient woodland in the village of Forestside, near Chichester. The drilling will destroy a hectare (2.5 acres) of woodland in an area likely to become part of the South Downs National Park. The council’s own ecologist and landscape officers object to the scheme but other, more ignorant, officials decided that the application met all legal requirements and approved it on the understanding that Northern Petroleum will replace and enhance the woodland when it has finished working on the site, which is expected to be in about three years’ time.
tags: conservation, environment, oil, South Downs, trees, vandalism, wildlife, woodland, woods
