Company to proceed with application to frack in Scarborough
Bosses insist they will listen to people's concerns
Full plans for a gas drilling rig in Burniston will be submitted later this year despite local opposition, Europa Oil & Gas has confirmed.
The fossil fuels company has confirmed that it will seek planning permission for the gas drilling rig at Burniston Mill in Scarborough.
Europa’s CEO said the company would “listen to people’s concerns” after locals and politicians came out in opposition to the scheme, highlighting concerns about impacts on the local community and environment.
The ‘hydraulic fracking’ project could take up to 17 weeks and would establish whether gas in an underground reservoir at Burniston could be extracted for “commercially viable production”.
A decision would then be made on whether to apply for permission for extraction, which would require a new planning application, according to the company.
The proposed rig would feature a 30m (98ft) derrick and 1,050 HGV movements are expected to be generated throughout the operations.
William Holland, the CEO of Europa Oil & Gas has defended the plans and said he hoped that the possibility of new jobs and investment “would be attractive to the local community”
In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Mr Holland said that if plans are approved by North Yorkshire Council, the rig would be onsite for 45 days and that “no one’s going to notice” due to the “small volume” of the scheme.
However, last month North Yorkshire Council said that the company would also have to submit an environmental assessment after planners concluded that the proposed development “would have the potential for significant impact on the scenic value of the heritage coast and impact on the amenity of the local area”.
‘Opposition’
Scarborough and Whitby’s MP Alison Hume has said she is “deeply concerned” about the plan and that she will “support the local community in Burniston to stop this fracking application going any further”.
Ms Hume said the company was “seeking to get around” a legal moratorium on fracking and that she had written to the government to ask it to tighten legislation.
More than a hundred residents attended a meeting of Burniston Parish Council in July to “unanimously” oppose the plan and a Frack Free Scarborough campaign group has also been set up.
On Thursday, September 26, Europa will be organising a drop-in consultation session at Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall.
If the plans are approved, the company is hoping to start drilling by the start of 2026
Responding to the opposition and criticism from many locals, CEO Mr Holland, said: “There are people all over the world who are against oil and gas production but in reality, the upstream industry has provided humanity as a whole with our ability to get to where we are at the moment.”
He added that because “domestic production is always going to be better than imported production” the proposed development was “an environmentally responsible thing to do”.
The current energy and net zero secretary, Ed Miliband MP, has previously said that “fracking is a dangerous, extreme idea”.
The government has also stated its intention to “ban fracking for good” with decisions by ministers to be announced “in due course”.
Mr Holland said he hoped to have “as many people as possible” attend the consultation session later this month.
The CEO added: ”I can say it with 100 per cent confidence… it’s not going to cause a problem.
“Hopefully we can show people that they’ve got nothing to be concerned about and there’s a reason why the ban does not include conventional hydraulic fracturing.”