A GREEN Party Member of European Parliament will visit the Isle of Wight next weekend to fight against oil drilling.

Keith Taylor, MEP for the South East, will be leading the campaign against the licence to drill for oil in Compton Bay.

Oil extraction has been planned by UK Oil and Gas for two sites on the Island - outside Arreton and from Compton Bay to Atherfield Point.

Mr Taylor said: "We cannot see the beautiful Island countryside pock-marked with oil wells.

"New oil and gas drilling operations are an affront to local communities and a dangerous form of climate change. We must keep fossil fuels in the ground."

A public meeting will be held on Saturday, January 20 at 11.30am at Wilberforce Hall in Brighstone, where residents can hear Mr Taylor discuss the issue.

Daniel James, chairman of the Isle of Wight Green Party, said: "The Conservative manifesto in 2017 pledged to overhaul planning laws to treat exploration drilling as 'permitted development'.

"There is a very real threat to our beaches, our wildlife and our drinking water from such fossil fuel extraction."