Jeremy Hunt MP has said it is “disappointing” that plans to drill for oil and gas in Dunsfold have not been “formally shelved” altogether. The Chancellor of the Exchequer issued the statement after the High Court ruled the government-approved exploratory drilling in his South West Surrey constituency would go to Judicial Review.
The High Court ordered the review on the grounds that there was “inconsistency in decision-making” by Secretary of State Michael Gove, and that Dunsfold bordered the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – where great weight should be placed on “conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty”.

Mr Hunt, who has campaigned against the planning application in Dunsfold before, said: “Despite the latest judicial review, it is again disappointing that plans for this potential gas exploration have not been formally shelved. The idea of drilling on this beautiful area continues to be inappropriate – what’s more UKOG’s data and mapping of the sub-surface is sparse, old and simply not detailed enough. I hope to meet with Protect Dunsfold again later this month to continue discussions.”

The Conservative MP has form in the matter. In June 2022 he wrote that DLUHC’s decision to overturn Surrey County Council’s initial refusal was “bitterly disappointing and wrong both economically and environmentally”.
He also wrote a letter to Housing Secretary Michael Gove that said the project had  been strongly opposed by both county council and “the entire local community”, going as far as accusing DLUHC of “ignoring the strength of local opinion”.

After news of the judicial review broke, UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) issued a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
It said: “Mr Justice Lane, dismissed five of the opponent’s grounds seeking to reverse the Secretary of State’s grant of planning consent as being unarguable. Two remaining grounds were given leave to be argued at a further hearing at some time in the future, as yet unknown.”

It added that full planning and environmental consents remain in force.

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG’s chief executive, said: “The company’s legal team remains robustly confident that following the extensive Loxley public inquiry, the secretary of state’s decision to grant planning consent was thoroughly considered and entirely lawful. Consequently, we will continue to move our project ahead.”

Anti-fracking campaigners are celebrating after the High Court granted a judicial review into the exploratory drilling of £123 million of oil near the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) was refused planning permission to search for fossil fuels at Loxley Well in Dunsfold in December 2020 by Surrey County Council’s planning committee.

But UKOG, which describes itself as an energy company focused on oil and gas exploration, appealed in June 2022 after a public inquiry. It was granted permission by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, led by Surrey Heath MP Michael Gove.

Almost immediately, Waverley Borough Council challenged the appeal decision in the High Court with £13,000 set aside for the legal challenge.  Yesterday, the High Court ruled the matter would be examined again – by Judicial Review.

Responding to the court decision was Frack Free Surrey. They said: “We are delighted by the news. Allowing exploration for fossil gas during a climate emergency, and in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, was an appalling decision by the government. We need to rapidly wean ourselves off gas, not look for more of it. It will be good to hear the arguments tested in the High Court.”

The legal challenge has been supported by the Goodwill Law Project.  The group’s director, Jo Maugham, said: “No Secretary of State who cared about the natural environment, or climate change, would have ignored the wishes of local people to grant planning permission for a huge new fracking project next to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We are pleased the High Court has given Protect Dunsfold, who we are supporting, permission to bring a judicial review challenge to a decision made under Michael Gove.”

According to lawyers, the Protect Dunsfold campaign succeeded for two reasons. The first was the “inconsistency in decision-making” by Secretary of State Michael Gove,  who gave the Dunsfold drilling site the go-ahead on the same day he refused permission for a comparable site.

The second is that Dunsfold sits on the edge of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and there should be great weight to “conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty”.

Jeremy Hunt, now Chancellor and whose constituency covers Dunsfold, has previously campaigned against the drilling site going ahead. He was approached for comment.

UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) and DLUHC were approached for comment.

Paul Follows, leader of Waverley Borough Council has been approached for comment.

No date has been set for the review.

Sir Paul Beresford will not stand again as an MP in Surrey, citing “midnight sittings” in Parliament and “a diary built around the whims of the whips’ office” as reasons for retiring. The Conservative Mole Valley MP, who has been in Parliament since 1992, told constituents in an email he would not stand again in the newly-formed parliamentary constituency of Dorking and Horley.

The next general election is due to take place by January 2025 and changes to constituency boundaries will come in before then, meaning the current Mole Valley constituency will no longer exist.

Sir Paul, 76, who is also a practising dentist, has been the area’s MP since 1997. The Mole Valley parliamentary constituency will be split up under current plans, with just over 60 per cent of it forming most of the new “‘Dorking and Horley” seat.

His 25,453 vote majority in 2015, and similar in 2017, was reduced to 12,041 in the 2019 general election, with the Lib Dem candidate, and Mole Valley Councillor, Paul Kennedy in second place each time.

In an email to constituents, Sir Paul said: “I cannot express how grateful I am to the voters in Mole Valley who have consistently supported me for so long and trusted me to be their representative in the House of Commons – it has been a great honour. ” He said he had given “serious thought” to standing in the next election and that the decision to step back had “not been easy”.

Sir Paul added: “I am very much of the view that anyone elected as an MP owes it to their constituents to throw themselves entirely into the role – and when you find yourself beginning to wonder what life without midnight sittings of the House and a diary built around the whims of the whips’ office might look like – it is probably time to step back.”

[E&ET adds: Sir Paul represented Croydon Central 1992-1997]

Epsom and Ewell opposition parties are united against the Parliamentary intervention of the “True and Fair Party”. Prospective parliamentary candidate Gina Miller opened her campaign office in Epsom and Ewell this week, promising to set up shadow MP surgeries to help residents struggling through the cost-of-living crisis. The office is based at Regency House, 17 West Street, just off Epsom High Street. In the coming weeks and months, Gina will hold shadow MP surgeries face-to-face and online, from the office and in locations across the constituency.

Gina famously defeated the Government twice in the Supreme Court when the Conservatives attempted to unlawfully override and then shut Parliament. Ministers’ disrespect of the law, entitled attitude and lack of care for the electorate led Gina to form True & Fair. The party campaigns against political corruption and highlights the lack of accountability in our system.

Gina, who is also Leader of the True & Fair Party, said: “In October, True & Fair announced its first slate of election candidates. They are standing in constituencies where traditional opposition parties have struggled to mount a serious challenge to the Conservative incumbent in recent elections. Epsom and Ewell voters can unite under my candidacy, which will be shaped by their aspirations and address their concerns.

“There was a net decline of 300 registered business – far above the national average – in Epsom and Ewell last year, according to the House of Commons Library. I urge any resident who is facing a problem, hardship or unfairness to visit our shadow MP surgeries so that my team and I can help them.”

Commenting on Gina Miller’s decision to stand for Parliament in Epsom and Ewell, Helen Maguire PPC for the Liberal Democratcs stated: “Realistically, we believe the Liberal Democrats are the only party who are able to take this Blue Wall seat from the Conservatives. The constituency of Epsom & Ewell needs an alternative to those who are bringing this country to its knees and so we have put together a committed team with new members joining all the time. The Liberal Democrats were runners up at the last election, but now believe we can close the gap given the Conservatives disastrous record in Government. The strength of our organisation, changes to the constituency’s boundaries, and a hard-working candidate, will enable us to ensure change for the better in this area.”

Mark Todd, Chair of Epsom and Ewell Labour Party stated: “I’m sorry to say that Gina Miller’s candidacy is likely to split the opposition vote and let the Conservative MP back in. It will do more damage than good. The local party Labour is currently forecast to win the seat at the next General Election. There is no need for her to intervene here. The local Labour party have 500 members and 3 councillors who actually live here. Our members volunteer at the local food bank, plant trees, are actively saving a local community centre, write the talking news, work in the local NHS and mental health services as well as in other local voluntary organisations. They’re out knocking doors every weekend and have been holding advice surgeries here for decades helping the local community. Gina Miller doesn’t live here, she advertises herself as living in London. For Gina, Epsom & Ewell is just a publicity stunt. For us, it’s our community and we’re determined to win it from Grayling at the next election”

Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell runs regular surgeries for constituents. The Conservative Party’s website maybe out of date in stating: “These are currently held virtually due to the current COVID-19 restrictions (sic). If you are a constituent and would like to arrange a 15 minute appointment, please contact the Constituency Office on 01372 271036.”

Epsom and Ewell and indeed the whole country has a real shortage of homes. We cannot go on with a generation of young people who aspire to home ownership but have little hope of achieving this. And we must have more affordable homes locally.

As a country we are already now building more homes than at any time for decades, but there is still more to do. Locally precious little has happened in recent years. Four years ago, just before the local elections, the Borough Council was due to publish its plan for housing and for the area for the future. It was postponed then, and only now is the Council in the process of publishing and developing its local plan for the area for the next 10-15 years.

Every local authority is obliged to do this, and to explain how it will meet housing need, look after its local economy and protect its local environment.

Each council has also prepared an assessment of local housing need, based on national guidance of how to do this. The housing assessment for Epsom and Ewell is though impossibly high – as it is in some other places. It would mean building more than 10,000 homes locally, and inevitably would mean much of our green belt disappearing.

That is why on a national level I have been saying to Ministers that there has to be more flexibility for Councils based on the reality in their areas.

But here we do need to do all we can to meet the housing need and not nearly enough has been done on this locally in recent years.  That’s why I have proposed a comprehensive redevelopment of the Kiln Lane and Longmead areas to achieve this without building all over our green belt.

My plan, which has been developed together with a leading firm of architects, involves the construction of a mixed use area of well-designed developments, with businesses on the lower floors and flats above, with some terraced housing on the site as well. This kind of mix is typical of what is being done elsewhere. The buildings would be no higher than those already in and around the town centre.

The scheme provides a similar amount of commercial space to the present plus nearly 5,000 homes. The plan would be to have car showrooms and parking areas built upwards rather than at ground level across large areas of land. But over time I would expect the commercial space to attract more creative businesses, given the presence in Epsom of the University of the Creative Arts which is now one of the country’s leading institutions of its kind. It would also aim to provide more homes for younger people, meaning more could afford to stay locally and work here, rather than simply building more executive homes for commuters on open land.

And being close to the town centre, I hope it would provide a much needed boost to the businesses there.

I hope that as the local plan develops the Council will adopt this plan. I think it’s the best way forward for our area.

On 17th November, we saw the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, give his Autumn Statement. We waited with bated breath to see how it might help us and our families as we try to work out how we’re going to pay the bills. The catastrophic verdict was plain to see in newspaper headlines the following day: ‘Carnage’– the Mirror; ‘Years of tax pain ahead’ – The Times; ‘From Bad to Worse’ – the Guardian. Even the usual Tory safe haven, the Mail, couldn’t hold back their view: ‘Tories Soak the Strivers’. It was never going to be an easy statement to make after Liz Truss dug a £30 billion hole in the public finances after her disastrous mini budget, but now the Treasury puts the fiscal hole at an eye-watering £60 billion!

This blistering verdict confirms the British public’s worst fears. We are being made to suffer increases in tax, bills, and mortgage payments because of this Conservative government’s mistakes. Living standards are falling off a cliff and public services are suffocating under the weight of this Conservative chaos and incompetence.

What is the cost to you, the hard-working residents of Epsom and Ewell? Two million more people will move into the 40% tax bracket, families paying the price for Tory incompetence. Struggling families who have worked hard for years have had their security stolen. Hunt’s Statement confirmed the Bank Surcharge cut from 8% to 3% from April 2023, while increasing taxes on millions of struggling families by extending the freeze in the Income Tax
personal allowance and higher-rate threshold. While non-doms and big banks got off lightly, the already squeezed middle are being pushed to the brink, having to choose between food or heating, mortgage payments or fuel for their car.

The squeezed middle will continue to work as hard as before, but their efforts will be worth significantly less as disposable income shrinks. Every single Conservative MP should be ashamed of this cost of chaos budget, which will leave a legacy of economic turmoil and tax misery as mortgage rates spiral.

OBR Budget documents forecast that mortgage interest payments will double over the next year, rising by 100.5% in the year to September 2023. Lib Dem analysis shows that a typical household with an outstanding mortgage of £236,000 will see their interest payments double to £5,689, or an increase of £2,851 a year. We’re calling for a Mortgage Protection Fund for homeowners seeing payments skyrocket now!

In addition, reform of adult social care has once again been kicked into the long grass. Bedding blockages will continue in the unresolved chaos of the understaffed, under-resourced NHS. Boris Johnson came to power on a mandate to reform social care. Where is it? The dementia tax is back!

Other horrors you may not have seen in the budget are:

1. Police cuts: Home Office spending is set to be slashed by £100m in real terms by
   2024-25.
2. Crumbling schools: There will be a £1 billion (14%) real terms cut in capital
   spending on education in 2024-25.
3. Social Housing: New stealth tax on social housing providers will mean lower
   investment in existing and new social housing.

Hunt is hoping economic growth will save his bacon but the shortage of workers, trading challenges because of Brexit and the lack of investment in renewable energy may not make this a reality. Hunt talks now about investment in green infrastructure and education and skills yet where has this been for 12 years? Schools are on their knees; parents are having to pay for books and children are going hungry.

We have now entered a recession, a spiralling cost-of-living crisis, the biggest decline in living standards in history. The gulf between rich and poor is growing, foodbanks have more demand than supply for the first time ever, nurses have voted to strike, barristers have been on strike, we have the highest rates of taxation in 70 years and a longer recession than we will likely have ever seen.

Since September, we have had three Prime Ministers, and four Chancellors. The Conservatives say they provide stability and continuity. The people are calling for CHANGE! Stability and continuity from this government has delivered a broken economy and made us poorer. Our crumbling hospitals and run-down classrooms are facing savage cuts because the Conservative party crashed the economy to fund tax cuts for the richest companies. The
country will never forgive them for this. 

This government is putting off tough decisions with a general election around the corner. This isn’t leadership! We are reaping the costs of a long-term failure to grow the economy and a lack of long-term strategy. We all just got a lot poorer and we’re in for a long and unpleasant journey on the way back to a sound and stable economy.

Helen Maguire- Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Epsom and Ewell

Gina Miller, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Epsom and Ewell, Leader of the True &
Fair Party, writes for the Epsom and Ewell Times:

The typical property price in Epsom and Ewell is more than £625,000, nearly 50% higher than the national average, according to GetAgent.co.uk. This is happening at a time when interest rates are on the march, rising from 0.1% to 3% in less than a year as the Bank of England struggles to control spiralling inflation.

Little wonder a survey commissioned by the True & Fair Party last month found that rising mortgage and rental costs are the main housing concerns among nearly half – 46% – of Epsom and Ewell residents. This research, carried out by Find Out Now, also found that 21% of residents are worried by the lack of housing supply in the area.

That’s one of the simple truths behind the housing crisis – the UK does not have enough homes. Epsom and Ewell residents clearly understand this. That’s what makes it even more shocking that Chris Grayling backed a Conservative backbench amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that will scrap mandatory local housing targets, making them advisory only. This will further restrict supply and increase prices.

Seemingly unwilling to recognise the extent of the crisis before them, around four dozen Tory MPs signed this parliamentary amendment to scrap mandatory local housing targets for councils. Homebuilding experts everywhere were horrified. Robert Colville, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, renamed this the ‘Destroy the Planning System and Make the Recession Worse Amendment’, arguing it could reduce already low levels of homebuilding by up to 40%. If passed into law, it will certainly worsen the already unfair inter-generational economic and social housing gap.

Carol Lewis, property editor at The Times, was excellent in skewering the self-serving political
rationale behind the rebellion. “Those that support the amendment talk of handing control to local people who are uniformly perceived as anti-development,” she wrote. “However, the reason isn’t because nimbys are blocking development. Planning permission has been given for more than 300,000 homes each year since the target was set in 2016. The problem is they [homes] simply aren’t being built.”

In other words, Westminster politicians should be looking at other issues, such as understaffed planning departments and greedy developers sitting on sites. While aiming to address the issue of inappropriate developments, the rebels have thrown the baby out with the bath water in thinking that abandoning all housing targets will fix the issue worrying their constituents. It will not and their plans will only make a dire situation worse for those they represent. Lewis pointed to the dictum of the great management theorist Peter Drucker, who said: “What gets measured gets managed.” Very true and, if we end up scrapping targets, it is inevitable we will see a sharp reduction in the number of affordable homes. Yet another generation will be condemned to a lifetime of high rents and no home to call truly their own.

The root cause of this political miscalculation is a failure to understand people’s concerns. It is not nimbyism to be concerned about playing fields or historic areas being demolished for housing development. Nor is it nimbyism to understand that the greenbelt is a vital environmental buffer between towns and the countryside. As a group of small business owners told me at a meeting off Epsom High Street last week, they are opposed to urban sprawl, not more homes.

What most of us want is for housing to be properly planned, built with sustainably sourced
materials, revitalising our communities and providing affordable homes that will be within reach for our children and grandchildren. Preventing people from taking their first steps on the housing ladder or sending their mortgages skyrocketing is not an answer to Epsom and Ewell’s housing needs.

That’s the simple truth.

Establishing targets focuses the minds of planners, developers and local politicians. Setting clear guidance for where housing can and cannot be built forces them to think how best to meet those targets, rather than just lazily vacuum up land around the edges of urban areas.

Sadly, Rishi Sunak looks set to cave in to the ill-conceived and damaging amendment, having already pulled a vote on the Bill for fear of upsetting his backbenchers. The misjudgement of the local MP and the weakness of our Prime Minister can only hurt Epsom & Ewell and other constituencies.

Gina Miller PPC for Epsom and Ewell for the True and Fair View Party

Local Epsom and Ewell Liberal Democrats announce local candidate and former Captain in the Royal Military Police Helen Maguire has been selected as the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Epsom & Ewell. Helen has lived in Surrey with her husband and 3 children for over 11 years. In the British Army, she served in Iraq and Bosnia. Helen now runs an award-winning charity fundraising consultancy, delivering vital funding to charities nationwide. She recently won ‘service Leaver of the year’ in the British Ex-Forces in Business awards 2022. In her spare time Helen can be found running on Epsom Downs. She has represented Epsom & Ewell Harriers Athletic Club for over 10 years.

Image: Helen Maguire (2nd from left) with supporters in Epsom High St

Helen was a key campaigner in Esher & Walton during the 2019 General Election where she played a pivotal role in increasing the Liberal Democrat vote by 18,000 with the largest swing in the country of 27.7%. Repeating this in Epsom & Ewell would result in Helen winning the seat from the conservatives.

According to the Liberal Democrat’s press release “Helen is a local community champion, volunteering her spare time to numerous charities within the constituency, an activist who fights for local issues to be heard. Following her selection earlier this month, Helen has been actively campaigning in Epsom, including protesting against the Tory plans to allow Fracking in Surrey and knocking on doors to listen to and understand first-hand about the local issues such as the Chalk Pit fiasco.”

Helen Maguire stated: “I am absolutely honoured to be selected as the Liberal Democrat prospective Parliamentary candidate for Epsom & Ewell. I am standing for honesty and integrity, and a fairer society for all.”

See Gina Miller’s recent announcement of her ambition to stand for Parliament in Epsom and Ewell reported HERE

As explained when launching our View from Westminster feature the Epsom and Ewell Times will occasionally carry viewpoints from the other parties. Here is Mark Todd, Labour’s local Parliamentary spokesperson’s first contribution.

After Two Months of In-Fighting, Now It’s Time for Action

Today Liz Truss has been elected as the leader of the Conservatives and hence Prime Minister.  Elected as the leader of this country by just 0.3 % of the population. Truss now needs to move quickly from her jingoistic hard right policies aimed at getting votes from Conservative Party hardliners to policies that will help her citizens.   

The UK is in turmoil and people are petrified about the winter ahead. They are also at a loss to understand the lack of leadership by the government during the two month leadership contest. 

With energy bills skyrocketing, the NHS in crisis due to a lack of staffing, resources and the collapse in social care; the climate crisis deepening by the day, poo-luted rivers and beaches, and a cost of living crisis so bad that many can no longer afford the basics in life: food to eat and heat and light for their homes.

Boris Johnson was allowed to remain as Prime Minister and how did this help the country? He partied at Chequers, posed in various publicity shoots and went on holiday after holiday. 

In fact, this Summer has been the perfect summation of his disastrous premiership. It has shown how much his time in charge has actually been about him and Carrie getting what they want, not the country. 

And, at the same time, most of Mr. Johnson’s Cabinet have been missing in action; either off on holiday or trying to ingratiate themselves with Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak to secure a job going forward. 

One incident that I particularly noted was on the 7th August when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the government to act on the energy crisis on Radio 4’s Today programme. The Conservative minister’s response was hollow, talking about why Rishi Sunak was the best candidate for leader, not what the Government would do now to tackle the crisis.  

Tribalism and party self-interest have been the priority. 

The new Prime Minister and Cabinet need to decide rapidly how they stop people falling into terrible poverty.

They need to do it now, not next week, not tomorrow, now!!! 

5th September 2022

The situation in Ukraine remains appalling and the brutality that has been wreaked on its people defies understanding. I think that most of us thought that this kind of war was a part of European history and that a military strategy that involved blasting cities to pieces one shell at a time was a part of the past. It will take decades to rebuild the damage.

I am glad that the UK has been at the forefront of helping the Ukrainian people. We were the main country to provide them with military equipment and training after the Russians seized Crimea and have supported them through the build-up to the War and as they try to resist the invasion. It is vital that this support should continue.

The conduct of the Russian leadership has been a brutal reminder of the real consequences of aggressive dictatorship, and of tight state-run media propaganda machines. For all of the frustrations that people may level at our democracy from time to time, the alternative is much much worse. No system of Government will ever be perfect, but the Ukraine War has been a timely reminder to the democratic world of just how important our values and our systems are, where Governments can be removed at the ballot box and where their decisions are subject to real scrutiny and open debate.

I want also to thank our fantastic team of volunteers locally who have been raising funds, sending goods and providing support to the refugees arriving here. Also to the families that have taken them in. I know that the system has been much too slow, though there are genuine safeguarding issues that have needed to be taken into account. But there is some great work being done in Epsom for the refugees and I am very grateful to all of those involved.

The cost of living issue remains a huge challenge for many people locally. The surge in energy costs particularly is unprecedented in recent years. The last time that there was anything like this was in the oil crisis of 1974. 

I hope that the measures announced by the Chancellor last week will help those worst affected. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies said after the announcement that it should insulate the poorest families from the impact of this year’s increases. 

But I can’t pretend that things will be easy still, with a combination of the continuing impact of the pandemic in Asia, and the impact of the war in Ukraine having major consequences around the world. As big as the worries here though are the potential implications for people in the developing world. Ukraine has been a big supplier of food to many African countries, and with rising prices and short supplies, the risks are that there will be real shortages there too. 

My view is that we will need to step up food production in this country wherever we sensibly can, and provide the right support to farmers to invest in that extra capacity. And we will need to be ready to target our aid budgets on those areas in the developing world that risk being worst affected.

I was hugely privileged in my time in Government to serve as both Lord Chancellor and Lord President of the Council, chairing the Queen’s Privy Council. In both those roles, I had regular contact with and meetings with the Queen. 

This weekend’s Platinum Jubilee is an extraordinary national event, celebrating one of the most distinguished reigns this country has ever seen. She is someone that we should all be extremely proud of, and grateful to. 

But I have also been fortunate enough to see her first-hand as a person. So I know her not just to be a great figurehead for this country, but as an incredibly smart, decent and likeable person. No one else could possibly have done the job that she has done, and done so with determination, kindness and a smile. She is quite simply extraordinary.