Anti-fracking activists protest over drilling plan

Protesters gathered on Thursday outside Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall

More than 100 anti-fracking activists have gathered to protest outside an event organised by an oil and gas firm which wants to drill in North Yorkshire.

Europa Oil & Gas was holding a public consultation on its plan to explore for gas on agricultural land at Burniston near Scarborough.

Protesters at Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall claimed Europa was planning to use a "loophole" to frack for gas, and called on the new government to speed up its promised ban on fracking.

Europa said its site design would include measures to mitigate any environmental impact during the construction and the drilling of the well.

The company previously said that in order to determine the potential reserves of gas, it would be necessary to undertake a "proppant squeeze".

This is a small-scale form of "fracking" that is permitted under current legislation.

North Yorkshire councillor Rich Maw said he was surprised by the number of people who joined the demonstration.

He said: “I was here to support this demonstration that is highlighting that this is fracking, and we are against it.

“Given the fact it is horrendous, it is chucking it down and we’re stood here without hoods, we’ve got umbrellas up all over the place, and my guess is that there’s more than 100 people here, but the strength of feeling here is that we do not want fracking in this county and it shouldn’t even be on the cards.”

Michelle Richardson, who represents the United Scarborough Residents’ Action Group, said she attended to help "protect the local environment and to support my community".

Christine McKay said she "doesn't think the environment should pay the price for development"

Christine McKay, who lives in Scarborough, said: “I care passionately about the environment and I don’t think the environment should pay the price for development, especially not for fossil fuels.

“We should be phasing them out, not getting more of them.

“Instead of conserving energy, we should look at how we can make ourselves more energy efficient, which is the starting point really, and money should be going into making sure every single home in the country is properly insulated."

Europa said any operations at Burniston would be subject to planning permission from North Yorkshire Council.

The firm added it intended to submit its planning application before the end of November.

A spokesperson said: "We will be carrying out a number of surveys which will carefully consider existing levels of traffic, ecology and biodiversity, archaeology, noise, air quality, flood risk, surface water drainage, landscape and lighting."

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