Plans for gas drilling and small-scale fracking near the North Yorkshire village of Burniston should be assessed for the likely environmental impact, local people unanimously agreed last night.

About 130 people, many of them local, packed an emergency meeting, called by Burniston and Cloughton Parish Council to discuss the proposals.

Burniston is on the edge of the North York Moors National Park and in the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast, near Scarborough.

Egdon Resources and Europa Oil & Gas have asked North Yorkshire Council planners to decide whether their proposals need an environmental impact assessment (EIA). DrillOrDrop report

The scheme includes drilling a 1.7km lateral well and carrying out a proppant squeeze, which would inject fluid and proppant, such as sand, into the surrounding rocks.

The proppant squeeze aims to improve the flow of hydrocarbons from a well. Regulators regard it as a form of low-volume fracking because the injection pressure is high enough to fracture rocks.

But it is not prohibited by the moratorium on fracking in England because the volume of liquid injected into the rocks is below the limit set by law.  

Opponents of fracking have described this as a loophole and called for the legislation to be extended to cover proppant squeeze.

Egdon and Europa said an EIA for the Burniston proposals was unnecessary because they were unlikely to have “significant environmental impacts”. 

MP calls for loophole to be closed

Last week, the newly-elected Labour MP for Scarborough and Whitby, Alison Hume, wrote to the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, to ask when the government plans to ban fracking. She also called for the loophole that allows proppant squeeze to be closed.

In her letter she said the proppant squeeze would need much of the same equipment as a full fracking operation:

“The impact of such a drilling operation [at Burniston] would be felt massively, with an estimated movement of 1050 heavy goods vehicles to be generated should the proposal succeed and, as I am sure that you can agree as the new government strives towards net-zero, would be detrimental to our mission to tackle climate change.

Comment deadline – 2 August 2024

People have until 2 August 2024 to comment to North Yorkshire Council on whether there should be an EIA for the Burniston proposals. Comments can be sent online at https://onlineplanningregister.northyorks.gov.uk/Register/Planning/Comment/NY/2024/0113/SCR

The screening request is at the start of the planning process. If the council ruled that an EIA were needed, the companies would have to prepare an environmental statement. This is a detailed report on the impact of the proposals and would be included with a planning application.

North Yorkshire Council would organise a full public consultation on any planning application.

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