The Environment Agency has refused to extend its public consultation on plans for gas drilling and fracking at Burniston in North Yorkshire.

DrillOrDrop reported yesterday that villagers had called for an extension to the final consultation on an environmental permit.

This followed local concerns about revisions to two key documents after the EA admitted what it called “a small number of minor typographical errors and inconsistencies”.

An EA spokesperson told us this evening:

“We value the contribution of the community and have carefully considered requests for additional time.

“However, we are satisfied that there has been a reasonable opportunity for all interested parties to respond and have closed the consultation.

“We will provide the outcome in due course.”

The EA said the Burniston consultation period had already been extended to give people time to consider the updated documents.

The EA also said all the amendments had been “clearly identified and summarised”. It said the changes did not affect its draft decision to approve the permit.

The regulator also said it had used “a range of channels to raise awareness of the consultation, including notifying the local MP, councillors and parish councils, and issuing online information and community letters.

Deadlines and updates

The EA originally set a deadline for comments of 26 September 2026.

On 24 September 2026, the Burniston permit consultation webpage changed the closing date for comments to today, 21 October 2026. There was no explanation.

On 29 September 2026, an update on the webpage acknowledged errors in the draft decision document.

On 7 October 2026, a second update said the errors had been corrected and revised documents were now available on the webpage.

Some local people said the EA community letter about the revised documents had not reached them until 14 October 2026. Others said they had not received one.

Local reaction

The campaign group, Frack Free Coastal Communities (FFCC), said this evening:

“We are disappointed – not so much that they have not extended the consultation but more that they have refused to engage with the fact that their revised decision document perpetuates the confused terminology of the first version.”

The group said yesterday the deadline had not “give sufficient time” and went “against the spirit of the EA’s published code of practice for consultations”.

FFCC said it needed more time to carry out a “comprehensive analysis of shortcomings that affect the EA’s technical analysis and appraisal of the permit application”.

Burniston Parish Council had asked the EA for an extension to the consultation of at least two months.

The council chair, Cllr Richard Parsons, said yesterday:

“Burniston Parish Council and members of our community have become extremely concerned about the changes that have been made to the Environmental Agency report into the Burniston Gas drill licence.

“There have, very recently, been a large number of changes many of which do not just cover minor errors.”