Anti-fracking demonstrators gather in Burniston over fears for North Yorkshire village

Protestors gathered in a North Yorkshire village to campaign against plans for gas drilling nearby.

Europa Oil & Gas wants to test drill for gas just outside the village of Burniston, near Scarborough.

The energy firm held a drop in session at the village hall on 26 September to explain its plans, confirming its intention to proceed with a full planning application.

It has sparked widespread local backlash with opposers saying it could lead to noise, pollution and even earth tremors.

The firm denies that its plan for the drilling on a stretch of farmland is in fact the controversial practice of fracking, with Europa's CEO Will Holland stating: "We're not shale fracking but doing conventional gas extraction."

Over 150 demonstrators turned up in the pouring rain to protest against the proposals and to oppose what they called a "schmooze-fest", chanting: "No fracking in Burniston, no fracking anywhere."

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, sees water sand and chemicals pumped at high pressure into the ground, creating cracks to release gas reserves trapped inside.

The process was banned in the UK five years ago amid concerns that it triggered earth tremors, but Mr Holland says their scheme involves "low level fracturing" which is safe and not covered by the ban.

The project would take up to 17 weeks and Europa says it would establish whether gas in an underground reservoir at Burniston could be extracted commercially.

Mr Holland said: "We believe that our impact that we're going to have on the local community will be minimal from a disruption stand point, but be positive from an economic stand point, job stand point, and more importantly from an environment and emissions stand point. We're going to lower emissions by developing our domestic gas."

Locals demonstrating outside the village hall drop in session remained unconvinced of how "low impact" Europa claims the project will be.

Resident Steve Topham said: "We're worried about the effect on the local community, light pollution, noise pollution, traffic and the effect on coastal paths."

Local Farmer Debbie Green said: "We are the fifth generation to farm this area and I fear for the future."

North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith said that fracking isn't something he wants in his county. He said: "We're looking to move away from using fracking and gas and oil as a form of energy and we're looking to be a much greener environment and looking to get net zero by 2034. Fracking just does not fit into that at all really for us."

A spokesperson for the Frack Free Scarborough group said, "At this time of climate emergency, we need to be reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, not squeezing out the last drops for the sake of short-term profit."

An application for test drilling is expected to be submitted to North Yorkshire Council in November.

If it is approved drilling could start in 2026 and if that test discovers enough gas to make Europa a profit, gas could be pumped from Burniston into the national network for the next 20 years.

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