A key industry regulator has objected to plans for gas exploration and a form of fracking at Burniston in North Yorkshire.

The Environment Agency (EA), in its response to a planning application by Europa Oil & Gas, said:

“The proposed development would pose an unacceptable risk of pollution of groundwater. We recommended that planning permission should be refused on this basis.”

Europa plans to target gas in Carboniferous sandstone at depths of up to 2,746m. The exploration well would be drilled through several aquifers.

 The EA, a statutory consultee on oil and gas applications, said it opposed developments that “may pollute groundwater, especially where the risk of pollution was high”.

The Environment Agency said:

“We consider that the proposed development poses an unacceptable risk of causing a detrimental impact to groundwater quality because there is the potential for vertical migration of pollutants to groundwater in the overlying aquifers.”

The EA noted that Europa’s application indicated that not all aquifers would be individually cased off. The regulator said:

“Casing over multiple aquifers may allow potentially polluted groundwater to migrate vertically and impact the groundwater in overlying aquifers.”

It said Europa should revise its well casing construction to ensure that each aquifer was individually cased.

The EA said if its objection could be overcome, it recommended a condition that Europa must produce a detailed construction method statement before work could begin.

Analysis by DrillOrDrop found that the risk of water contamination was one of the top 10 reasons people gave for objecting to Europa’s planning application.

Flaring

The EA also said Europa’s proposed flare to dispose of waste gas may not be a best available technique.

The agency added:

“Dependent on the specific details of the well testing proposal, the disposal of gas from some stages of the test may need to be carried out in one or more enclosed flares rather than the shrouded flare identified in the planning application documents.”

As well as planning permission, the Burniston proposal would need an environmental permit. The EA, which would issue the permit, said:

“We do not have enough information to know if the proposed development can meet our requirements to prevent, minimise and control pollution”.

Other statutory responses

Yorkshire Water said in its response:

“Based on the information submitted, no observation comments are required from Yorkshire Water”.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said it objected to the application because “the continued use of fossil fuels conflicted with commitments to reach net zero by 2050”. It also said:

“Potential impacts of fracking are not well understood and existing environmental legislation is not adequate to address these risks.

Natural England did not object to the application but said:

“A lack of objection does not mean that there are no significant environmental impacts. Natural England advises that all environmental impacts and opportunities are fully considered and relevant local bodies are consulted.”

North Yorkshire Council’s environmental health service noted that Europa’s acoustic report did not assess the risk from sub-ground movements caused by the operation. It also did not assess the movement of heavy goods vehicles to and from the site. The service called for conditions on noise, vibration, lighting, dust control, ground water contamination risk and odour management.

North Yorkshire Council’s scientific officer noted that Europa had not carried out any live sampling of the air quality to confirm the findings in a desk-based assessment by its consultant. The officer asked for conditions on air quality monitoring, including sampling for particulates and nitrogen oxides in the village and around the edge of the site.

North York Moors National Park Authority planning committee did not object. DrillOrDrop report

Updated 12/6/25 to include Environment Agency comment on proposed flaring at Burniston