Fracking: Formal plans for fracking project on Yorkshire coast to be submitted ‘imminently’

The oil and gas company told residents that it would be submitting a formal planning application to North Yorkshire Council for its fracking project including a 30m high derrick on the heritage coast and near the North York Moors National Park.

Europa had originally aimed to submit its plans in 2024 but has faced considerable opposition from locals and politicians who say they are concerned about the impacts on the local area and the environment.

Last September, a drop-in information session organised by the company at Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall was attended by more than 100 locals and activists who asked questions and demonstrated against the plan.

In a recent leaflet sent to residents in Burniston, Europa said it had “received feedback that a combination of the weather and the protestors may have dissuaded some locals from attending the [drop-in session]”.

It added that it wanted to offer residents the chance to ask questions about the potential gas field development and locals could ask for “a meeting, either online or at your home address”.

The “proppant squeeze” or hydraulic fracking project would test whether gas could be extracted on a commercially viable basis.

Concerns have been raised about the climate and environmental impacts of the project, if it goes ahead, as well as on local roads due to HGVs moving materials, and potential impacts on house prices in the area.

The hydraulic fracking project could take up to 17 weeks and see more than 1,000 HGV movements but if the company deems the gas reserves financially viable, it could seek to drill up to five wells to be extracted over 10 years or more, if further plans were approved.

While the company has said that “no one’s going to notice” due to the “small volume” of the scheme, political resistance has included opposition from Labour’s local MP Alison Hume and combined authority mayor David Skaith.

The MP for Scarborough and Whitby, Ms Hume, has also called on the Government to close a “loophole” in the ban on fracking, although the company has said that “this is a misconception”.

The CEO of Europa, William Holland, said that if successful, the project would be “positive from an economic standpoint, a job standpoint, and more importantly from an environment and emissions standpoint – we’re going to lower emissions by developing our domestic gas”.

North Yorkshire councillor and fracking campaigner, Steve Mason, said: “North Yorkshire is in a better place to reject this within planning rules rather than through a motion and that’s what we have to look at.”