National Park will not object to gas drill plan

Planners at the North York Moors National Park Authority have said they will not object to proposals to drill for gas on nearby land.

Europa Oil and Gas Ltd has submitted a planning application for the temporary plant near Burniston, north of Scarborough.

The "proppant squeeze" project, which would include a 30m (98ft) drilling rig, has prompted demonstrations from local residents.

However, members of the authority said the site's impact on the national park would be "limited" because it was 800m away.

A report added that a "degree of harm" caused by the direct visibility of the development had been considered.

However, it said: "Subject to clarification of certain matters and subject to imposition of appropriate controls, it is however concluded that this relatively short-term development would not lead to significant harm to the delivery of national park statutory purposes, or to national park special qualities."

The committee did ask for clarification on issues including the time that the test rig would be in place, and the proposed route of HGVs visiting the site.

According to the planning application, the site potentially has significant gas resource.

If the tests were successful, a new application would be submitted for a more permanent drill site, it said.

The meeting heard the 30m (98ft) drilling rig would be part of a "proppant squeeze" test project, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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.

The technique, which has been described as "small-scale fracking", has been accused by some of being a loophole in the UK's moratorium on the controversial fossil fuel extraction process.

However, proppant squeeze procedures have been regularly used in the UK for a number of years and industry experts consider the technique low-volume, unlike the process formally termed 'hydraulic fracturing'.

About 70 members of the public attended a meeting last month, where members of Burniston Parish Council voted to object to the scheme.

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