Two campaign groups are calling on residents to attend a lobby before a crucial council meeting due to decide plans to frack for gas at Burniston in North Yorkshire.

Frack Free Coastal Communities and Frack Free Scarborough said the lobby later this month would urge councillors to reject plans by Europa Oil & Gas.

The decision was originally scheduled for January 2026. But the meeting of North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee was postponed the day before after an instruction from the government.

The MP, local councillors and campaigners had said the local government secretary should decide the application. The minister later declined and sent the decision back to North Yorkshire.

The lobby is at 12 noon outside Scarborough Town Hall, where the meeting will be held at 1pm.

There have been more than 1,600 objections to the application. These include from the Alison Hume, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, parish councils at Burniston, Cloughton, Newby and Scalby, Scarborough town council, Friends of the Earth and local residents.

A recent report by an eminent geologist warned that the lower-volume fracking planned at Burniston could cause small earthquakes.

Professor Chris Garforth, of Frack Free Coastal Communities, said:

 “Councillors have a clear choice: reject this reckless scheme – or ignore the voices of the 1,600+ objectors who refuse to let our community become a testing ground for the serious risks to health, homes, environment and climate that fracking brings.”

He also said his group had serious concerns about the planning process:

“We’ve had to formally complain about systemic failures in how the council has handled this application.

“Their response has been inadequate, so we’re now escalating to stage two of the council’s complaints procedure.

“A ‘yes’ vote based on a fundamentally flawed process would be unsafe and indefensible. This only strengthens our call for councillors to reject this application.” 

John Atkinson, from Frack Free Scarborough, said:

“We call on everyone who cares about Burniston, Scalby, and Cloughton, about our coastal communities and about climate change, to join us on 24th April.

“Councillors need to see and hear the strength of opposition to this dangerous plan. This is our chance to make our voices impossible to ignore.”