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NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCILLORS VOTE TO REJECT EUROPA FRACKING APPLICATION

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Statement from Frack Free Coastal Communities and Frack Free Scarborough 24 April 2026:

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North Yorkshire Council's planning committee today voted to reject an application by Europa Oil & Gas to carry out hydraulic fracturing at a site near Burniston on the North Yorkshire coast. The 'proppant squeeze' application had attracted over 1,600 objections from local residents, campaign groups and scientific experts on grounds including earthquake risk, health impacts, climate impact, and harm to the local landscape and tourism economy.

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Responding to the decision, Frack Free Coastal Communities and Frack Free Scarborough issued the following statement:                 

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"Today North Yorkshire councillors did the right thing. They listened to over 1,600 objections, they listened to the science, and they voted against a reckless scheme that would have put our coastline, our water and our community at risk."

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"This victory belongs to everyone who took action. To those who leafletted, who put money in the campaign pot, who marched to the proposed site, who took to social media, who organised and attended meetings, lobbies, fairs, and social events, and of course to those who did the laborious work of exposing the contradictions in the application and the planning process.

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"All those actions, individual and collective, sent one message loud and clear: we will not tolerate companies whose only interest is profit gambling with our geology, our natural resources, our environment and our health.

"Europa wanted to use Burniston as a testing ground for an experimental technique. Today, councillors refused to let that happen. But this fight isn't over. Today's vote is recorded as 'minded to reject', and there are further procedural steps before it is finally confirmed. Europa may also appeal. And in any case, applications like this one will continue to be pushed on communities across England as long as fossil fuel companies are able to exploit the loophole in the moratorium that allows lower volume hydraulic fracturing and other unconventional techniques.

"We will keep campaigning here in North Yorkshire and across the UK until that loophole is closed and all forms of hydraulic fracturing are banned for good. And we stand in solidarity with communities everywhere fighting to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

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"The government has promised to discuss the fracking ban in the autumn. We'll be putting pressure on ministers to make sure low-volume techniques like proppant squeeze are included. Because the science is clear: they carry the same risks as the fracking banned in 2019.

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"More fundamentally, we're in a climate crisis. Drilling for oil and gas, at any scale, using any technique, makes that crisis worse. Real energy security comes from a swift and just transition to renewables, not from extracting the last drops of fossil fuel from our coastline.

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"Today is a victory for our community and for good sense. Tomorrow we continue the fight for a safer, cleaner future for all.

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Chris Garforth, steering group chair, Frack Free Coastal Communities:

"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."

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John Atkinson, Frack Free Scarborough campaigner:

"This is what people power looks like. Hundreds of us stood outside Scarborough Town Hall today, and the planning committee heard us. But this isn't just about Burniston or Scarborough. It's a message to every community in Britain fighting fossil fuel companies: you can win."

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Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth climate campaigner:

"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.

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"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.

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"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."

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The committee's vote is recorded as "minded to reject." The Secretary of State now has 21 days to decide whether a new Environmental Impact Assessment is required. If yes, councillors will consider that new information before the rejection is confirmed. If no, the rejection stands.

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The application attracted over 1,600 objections from local residents, campaign groups, and scientific experts.

The current moratorium on fracking in England, introduced in 2019 following induced seismic events at Cuadrilla's Preston New Road site in Lancashire, applies to high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Campaigners and Friends of the Earth argue that lower-volume techniques including proppant squeeze carry equivalent risks and should be included in any permanent ban. The volumes of fluid planned for the Burniston site are greater than those that triggered the 2.9 magnitude earthquake at Preston New Road in 2019 which led to the moratorium.

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The government has indicated it will consult on a permanent fracking ban in autumn 2026.

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Frack Free Coastal Communities and Frack Free Scarborough are community campaign groups opposing hydraulic fracturing on the North Yorkshire coast.