Victory for local people as council ‘minded to reject’ Yorkshire fracking scheme

•    A Friends of the Earth fact sheet on fracking is here.  

Friends of the Earth has welcomed North Yorkshire Council’s decision that it is minded to reject plans for a fracking scheme [1,2] near Burniston, outside Scarborough - calling it a huge win for local residents and the environment.  The final decision will be deferred until the government has decided whether to formally require an environmental statement for the application under the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations. 

Although a moratorium on fracking has been in force in England since 2019, except for a brief period during Liz Truss’s premiership, it contains a significant loophole that allows certain low volume fracking techniques – such as ‘proppant squeeze’– to go ahead.

Earlier this month, Friends of the Earth published new research from leading geologist Professor Stuart Haszeldine of the University of Edinburgh, warning that earthquakes from high and low-volume fracking are “equally large and equally unpredictable”.

Friends of the Earth is now calling on the government to close the fracking loophole as part of its promise to ‘ban fracking for good’.

Details of the ban are expected to be set out in an Energy Independence Bill, which may be included in the Kings Speech next month. Friends of the Earth says the proposed ban must cover all fracking methods - including ‘proppant squeeze’ – not just high volume techniques included in the current moratorium.

Commenting on today’s decision by North Yorkshire Council, Friends of the Earth’s climate campaigner Tony Bosworth, said: 

“We’re delighted that North Yorkshire Council is minded to reject this damaging and unnecessary fracking proposal. This is a huge victory for local people who stood up to protect their community.

“The people of Burniston should never have been put under this threat in the first place. Ministers have promised to ban fracking for good – but proppant squeeze is just fracking under another name.

“Friends of the Earth has opposed the Burniston application because fracking blights our countryside, won’t lower UK energy bills, and remains deeply unpopular with communities. If the government is serious about stopping fracking, ministers must act swiftly to close the loophole that could allow proppant squeeze fracking to go ahead. If they don’t, more communities will be put at risk.”

Chris Garforth, steering group chair of Frack Free Coastal Communities - a member of Friends of the Earth's action network - said:  

"This is a victory for science, for common sense, and for the people who live on this coastline. The planning committee has listened to the evidence and to the 1,600 people who objected. Now we need the government to close the loophole in the fracking moratorium, and make sure no community anywhere in the UK faces this fight again."

Ends 

Notes to editors 

1.    Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a method of extracting oil and gas by pumping liquids deep underground at high pressures to create or widen fractures in the rock to release the fossil fuel trapped inside. The Burniston proposal was  unanimously opposed by Reform-led Scarborough Town Council   (despite the national party’s explicit support of fracking and fossil fuel exploitation), by local MP Alison Hume and there have reportedly been over 1,600 local objections  to the application.
2.    Significant areas of England are already licenced for onshore oil and gas exploration and production. Unless proppant squeeze and other types of fracking are explicitly included in the government’s forthcoming ban, they can pose a real threat to communities.  
3.     The environmental justice campaigners say allowing fracking for fossil fuels flies in the face of the action needed to tackle the climate crisis. Investing in UK renewables and energy efficiency is key to reducing energy bills, strengthening energy security and helping the country transition to a low carbon economy.