Burniston has stepped up its action against North Yorkshire Council’s handling of plans for gas drilling and lower-volume fracking.

Last month, Burniston Parish Council asked North Yorkshire Council to refer itself for independent scrutiny of how it dealt with the planning application by Europa Oil & Gas.

The parish council accused North Yorkshire officials of apparent procedural irregularity. It said local people had “lost confidence in the transparency and procedural integrity of the current handling of this planning application”.

But three weeks later, the parish council said it had received no response and suggested it was being treated with “apparent disdain” by North Yorkshire.

Today, the parish council submitted a complaint to North Yorkshire Council as an organisation. It also accused North Yorkshire’s chief executive, Richard Flinton, and the corporate director community development, Nic Harne, of failing to respond to the original letter.

Burniston Parish Council chair, Cllr Richard Parsons, said today:

“No organisation, particularly one that is publicly funded and has a responsibility to comply with its own policy, should adopt the position of either burying their heads in the sand in the hope we go away or treat anyone with such apparent disdain that neither an acknowledgment or reply is sent.”

North Yorkshire apparently failed to comply with its own correspondence and complaints policies.

The policies state that correspondence should be acknowledged within five working days.

According to the complaints policy, people can expect “a response within 15 working days of the date of receipt of the complaint”.

This can be extended up to 20 working days. But the policy says:

“If the investigation will take longer than 15 working days we will tell you, explaining why and letting you know when you can expect a full response”.

The complaints policy outlines what a response should look like:

“This will include a clear statement about whether or not your complaint has been upheld, an explanation of why we have come to that decision, where appropriate an offer of remedy and what we will do to prevent it from happening again, along with how to refer your complaint to the next stage if you are still unhappy.”

Burniston Parish Council’s original letter was sent by email on 6 February 2026, asking North Yorkshire to refer itself to the Planning Advisory Service or another independent body for a review of its procedure and handling of the planning application.

To comply with the five working day deadline for correspondence, North Yorkshire should have replied by 13 February 2026. To meet the standard 15-day deadline for dealing with complaints, North Yorkshire should have responded by Friday 27 February 2026.

But Cllr Parsons said:

“To date we have had no acknowledgement or reply despite NYC [North Yorkshire Council] having a correspondence reply policy.”

Other organisations in Burniston, including the campaign group, Frack Free Coastal Communities, have also asked North Yorkshire Council to self-refer its performance.

Cllr Parsons said:

“I can only hope those organisations receive a response that complies with the NYC policy.”

There have been more than 1,600 formal objections to the Europa planning application.

Cllr Parsons said today:

“There is, from our community and the wider community, an overwhelming feeling that NYC have failed to independently assess and report on the planning application. There is a loss of confidence in their ability to independently act as they should.”

He said the parish council had concluded that North Yorkshire Council had failed to carry out its responsibilities in many areas.

This was, he said, based on North Yorkshire’s handling of the application and the report by planning officers, sent to North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee, which would decide whether to grant permission for Europa’s plans.  

Cllr Parsons said North Yorkshire’s failings included, but were not limited to:

• Failure to accurately record and display public comments online
• Procedural omissions regarding forms NYPA15 and NYPA17
• Intentional marginalization of substantial submissions
• Premature conclusion and bias in the Officer’s Report
• Disregard for shifting legislative and policy frameworks

Cllr Parsons said:

“Taking all this into account we felt that NYC had an absolute duty to have their processes independently scrutinised. This area and all of North Yorkshire, should have the confidence that NYC have the ability to deal with any planning matter in an open, honest and transparent manner.”

Burniston Parish Council was among a group of organisations and individuals, which asked the local government secretary to take over the Europa Oil & Gas decision. They argued that the application was of both local and national importance.

Last week, the minister sent the decision back to North Yorkshire Council.

Cllr Parsons said the parish council was disappointed by the minister’s move:

“This was an opportunity for this Government to keep to their word and decide upon this planning application taking into account exactly what they have promised our Communities. 

“In returning the application to North Yorkshire Council, the Secretary of State has given no reason, no explanation. That is not good enough.”

He said the parish council had asked the minister for an explanation for his decision. He added:

“The Secretary of State was made aware of the self referral request and has still sent the application back to NYC.

“Our communities deserve answers and being either ignored or providing no decision details is extremely poor and should rectified immediately.”

DrillOrDrop invited North Yorkshire Council to comment on the latest complaints by Burniston Parish Council. This article will be updated with any response.