A council is being urged to refuse plans that would use a form of fracking to explore for gas at Burniston near the North York Moors National Park.

A legal opinion has confirmed that proposals by Europa Oil & Gas to pump liquid and proppant at high pressure qualify as fracking under North Yorkshire’s planning policy.

Friends of the Earth obtained advice from Estelle Dehon KC, one of the UK’s leading environmental barristers. She secured a successful Supreme Court challenge in 2024 on climate emissions from onshore hydrocarbons.

More than 1,400 people have objected to the Burniston proposal, which includes drilling and testing a borehole and the form of fracking, known as proppant squeeze. Fracking and the risk of  earthquakes were in the top 10 reasons to oppose the plans in a public consultation, analysed by DrillOrDrop.

Europa has repeatedly argued that its proposed operation is not fracking.

It has said, correctly, that the moratorium on fracking in England covers only operations which meet a legal definition of using 1,000m3 of liquid per stage or 10,000m3 in total.

But the North Yorkshire’s minerals policy does not use this statutory volume threshold to define fracking. It states that fracking is any operation that injects fluid and proppant at pressures high enough to fracture rocks.

Proposals that qualify as fracking under the North Yorkshire policy could be subject to additional planning restrictions.

Ms Dehon said in her opinion:

“the type of fracking defined in the Petroleum Act is not the definition used in key, relevant planning policy. And that planning policy must be considered by NYC [North Yorkshire Council] when determining this application”.

She said failure to regard the proposal as a type of fracking

“undermines effective public engagement with and scrutiny of the environmental impacts of the proposal, including seismicity risks.”

Friends of the Earth called on the council to reject Europa’s planning application for a range of reasons, including seismic risks and the climate crisis.

It said today it was misleading for Europa to suggest that proppant squeeze was not a type of fracking when it came to planning policy.

The organisation also stated that the volume of liquid proposed by Europa in the proppant squeeze (500m3 per stage) is greater than the amount used by Cuadrilla in fracking stages at its Preston New Road shale gas site in 2019. This operation led to a 2.9 magnitude earthquake, prompting suspension of fracking at the site and later the moratorium.

Friends of the Earth’s senior lawyer, Katie de Kauwe, said of the Burniston application:

“This fossil fuel proposal shines a spotlight on the glaring loophole in the existing fracking moratorium. The government must close it as a matter of urgency.

“Fracking is deeply unpopular with local communities. It is absolutely essential that both the planning authority and the public know exactly what type of development this is, so that it doesn’t sneak in through the back door.

“The writing is on the wall for new gas and oil projects. The government’s new climate plan, due later this year, must set out a clear and ambitious path to a future free from fossil fuels.

“With key international climate talks only months away, the UK needs to show leadership on climate action. We cannot expect other countries to end their fossil fuel reliance if we continue to greenlight new projects at home.”

Jenny Hartley, a retired headteacher, local resident and a member of the steering group for Frack Free Coastal Communities, said:

“It’s deeply disturbing that we are having the wool pulled over our eyes about a fossil fuel development in our community.

“There must be transparency in the decision-making process. This is fracking, pure and simple – and it should be described as such in the planning process, so local people know exactly what is being proposed.

“Fracking is risky, unpopular and unnecessary. We urge the council to reject this proposal.”

Campaign

An online parliamentary petition, launched at the weekend, called for a ban on “small-scale fracking”. At the time of writing, it had more than 2,200 signatures.

Burniston’s MP, Alison Hume, has called for a parliamentary debate on proppant squeeze and the moratorium on fracking.

A parliamentary motion has called for a block on all forms of fracking in England.

Opponents of onshore oil and gas are campaigning against the use of proppant squeeze at a site at West Newton in East Yorkshire. There are also plans by Egdon Resources to use the technique on new wells at Wressle in North Lincolnshire.