Rathlin Energy has given formal notice that it intends to make a revised planning application for site expansion and long-term production in East Yorkshire.

East Yorkshire councillors refused the company consent on 30 September 2021 for a scheme to drill six additional wells and triple the footprint of its West Newton-A site. They said the scheme would be “disproportionate” and “out of character”.

Earlier this month, the company revealed details of a scaled-back proposal. This cut the number of new wells to four and reduced the site extension by 25%. The number of daily visits by heavy goods vehicles during drilling (25) and production (10) will remain the same.

Rathlin has now posted an official notice about the new application on the site fence at West Newton-A.

This is required under planning regulations and is a formal notification to owners or tenants of land to which an application for mineral working relates.

Under Article 13 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) Order 2015, the notice must be displayed for not less than seven days in the period of 21 days immediately before the application is made to the local planning authority.

Any representations about the plans for West Newton-A must be made by Thursday 6 January 2022 to East Riding of Yorkshire Council. This period does not replace any public consultation period when the full application has been submitted and published.

That application must be validated by East Yorkshire planners before it is posted online and open for public comments. The public consultation usually lasts at least three weeks but can be six weeks or more.

When the full application has been published, DrillOrDrop will report on the contents and reaction to it.