North Yorkshire Council has delayed consideration of Europa Oil and Gas’s application for fracking at Burniston
Europa Oil and Gas’s application to carry out ‘proppant squeeze’ fracking to explore and test for gas at Burniston, near Scarborough, has been postponed, in a move welcomed by Friends of the Earth.
The delay follows a request from the Planning Inspectorate, which asked for the strategic planning committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow to be postponed until the government completes its ongoing review into low-volume fracking, including proppant squeeze.
The issue centred around a technicality of the fracking moratorium
The fracking moratorium was introduced after a 2.9ML earthquake was triggered in Lancashire in 2019, but this applies only to so-called “high volume” or associated” hydraulic fracturing. Proppant squeeze, a lower-volume technique that involves injecting a fluid and proppant (a granular substance like sand) into the rock formation at high pressure, to create fractures, was not included in the moratorium.
Friends of the Earth wrote to North Yorkshire Council in 2025, informing it that it had obtained expert legal opinion from leading environmental barrister, Estelle Dehon KC that proppant squeeze meets the definition of “hydraulic fracturing” under relevant planning policy – and must be treated as such.
Tony Bosworth, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “North Yorkshire Council is right to delay a decision on this deeply controversial fracking scheme while the government is still reviewing its position.
“Fracking blights our countryside, won’t cut UK energy bills and is deeply unpopular with local communities.
“Ministers have promised to ban fracking. That ban must include proppant squeeze, a low-level form of fracking, or communities across large parts of England risk seeing it creep in through the back door.”
The application is unanimously opposed by Reform-led Scarborough Town Council, local Labour MP Alison Hume (who has called for a comprehensive ban on small-scale fracking operations) and local group Frack Free Coastal Communities.
The Labour Manifesto promises to ban fracking altogether
As part of their manifesto published in 2024, shortly before their political victory and becoming the current government, the Labour party promised a total ban on fracking and no handing out of new coal licences.
This energy promise came alongside a pledge to complete Hinkley Point C and boosting the rollout of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to improve the country’s energy security.
Progress is being made at Hinkley Point C, as last July a 14-metre tall dome was lifted into place by ‘Big Carl’, the world’s largest crane.
