Planners in West Sussex have overwhelmingly rejected a bid by an energy firm to explore for oil and gas in the South Downs National Park.

Celtique Energie had submitted a planning application for a site near Fernhurst, West Sussex, to drill a temporary vertical well to test for oil and gas.

The controversial plan, which attracted more than 5,500 objections, could also have led to the drilling of a horizontal well extending out from it.

However, at a meeting yesterday the South Downs National Park Authority heeded their officers’ recommendations and turned down the application.

The move was welcomed by opponents of the plans who were fearful that it could have led to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, taking place.

Celtique had said before the meeting in Midhurst that it had produced a robust application that included steps to limit any potential environmental impact.

But members of the park authority’s planning committee agreed with their experts that there were no “exceptional circumstances” nor “public interest” argument for it to go ahead.

Members agreed that Celtique had “not demonstrated that the national need for indigenous oil and gas supply and mix” could not be met elsewhere.

A previous application by Celtique to explore for oil and gas near Wisborough Green, a conservation area just outside the national park, was turned down by the county council’s planning committee in July.

“With their second consecutive No to fracking, Sussex authorities have sent a clear signal that the county is not prepared to be the testing lab for this inexperienced and controversial industry,” said Greenpeace campaigner Simon Clydesdale.

“As carbon pollution in our atmosphere hits record levels and the world faces one of its toughest challenges in slashing climate-damaging emissions, fracking is the exact opposite of what Britain needs and wants — genuinely clean, safe renewable energy.”

Celtique Energie chief executive Geoff Davies said the company was “disappointed” but not surprised at the ­decision given the authority’s public stance on oil and gas exploration in national parks.