Council to rule on drilling rig near National Park

Councillors will meet next month to decide on a controversial application to drill for gas near the North York Moors National Park.

Europa Oil and Gas wants to install a 38-metre drilling rig at a site close to Burniston, near Scarborough, to test whether the fossil fuel could be extracted on a commercially viable basis.

The firm previously said the project would bring economic and job benefits, but critics have raised environmental concerns.

North Yorkshire Council's executive member for corporate services, Heather Phillips, said: "As is the case with all planning applications, members of the committee will carefully consider all representations prior to any decision being made."

Phillips said the plans had "attracted significant public interest", with more than 1,500 responses submitted.

The application had been due to be discussed in January, but it was delayed after a request for the government to decide it.

North Yorkshire Council said the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed, had decided it should be determined by the local authority.

It will now be discussed at Scarborough Town Hall on 24 April.

Europa Oil and Gas previously said 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, the procedure has been regularly used in the UK for a number of years and industry experts consider it low-volume, unlike the process formally known as "hydraulic fracturing".

The initial scheme would test whether gas could be extracted on a commercially viable basis.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, it could take up to 17 weeks and see more than 1,000 HGV movements.

If the company deemed the gas reserves financially viable, it could then seek to drill up to five wells to be extracted over 10 years or more, subject to planning approval.

However, concerns have been raised about the environmental impacts, as well as the impact on roads due to HGVs moving materials, and house prices.