A Council in North Yorkshire unanimously oppose Burniston gas drilling rig plans
The oil and gas company wants permission to install a 98ft drilling rig on the site
Scarborough Town Council has unanimously opposed plans for a gas drilling rig in Burniston, near Scarborough.
At the second full meeting of the Reform-run town council, a vote was unanimously passed opposing Europa Oil & Gas’ planning application to explore for gas using a ‘proppant squeeze’ method in Burniston, near Scarborough.
The oil and gas company wants permission to install a 98ft drilling rig on the site, which has a “potentially significant gas resource” and, if further approvals were granted, extraction could take place for “about 20 years”.
The motion of opposition, which was approved at a meeting on Wednesday, July 16, noted the town council’s concern about an increase in HGV traffic through Scarborough, a “risk to groundwater and aquifers” supplying the town, as well as landscape “degradation and light and noise pollution”.
Town councillors also affirmed their support for Burniston Parish Council and the local community, and the council expressed its “full and unwavering support for local residents in their opposition to the proposed fracking-style hydrocarbon development”.
Scarborough and Whitby’s MP Alison Hume and David Skaith, elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, have also opposed the plans, while Europa has said that its scheme would be positive for the local economy and that “no one’s going to notice” due to the “small volume” of the proposal.
Last week, Friends of the Earth wrote to North Yorkshire Council notifying it of the expert legal opinion it had obtained from one of the country’s leading barristers, Estelle Dehon KC – named Barrister of the Year at the Lawyer Awards 2025 – who said that ‘proppant squeeze’ qualifies as fracking under relevant planning policy, and that it must be considered as such when the council considers Europa’s application for planning permission.
Europa Oil and Gas has previously said that a “slurry” would be injected into the well to fracture surrounding rocks, allowing more gas to be recovered.
Proppant squeeze procedures have been regularly used in the UK for several years, and industry experts consider the technique low volume, unlike the process formally termed ‘hydraulic fracturing’.
This week, Friends of the Earth lawyers wrote to Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy, urging him to close a loophole in the current fracking moratorium “as a matter of urgency”.
The environmental group said that having different definitions for fracking is creating confusion, and that the moratorium must be widened to cover all types of fracking, regardless of the volume of the injected fluid.”
Europa has maintained that “it is a misconception that there is a loophole” in the fracking moratorium.