Scarborough Mayor says he is not opposed to fracking

​Reform’s Cllr Thomas Murray, the town mayor of Scarborough, has said he is not fundamentally opposed to fracking, just weeks after plans for a controversial gas drilling rig near the town were refused by members of North Yorkshire Council.

​Local campaign group Frack Free Coastal Communities described the mayor’s comments as “absurd”.

​The Reform-led Scarborough Town Council voted last year unanimously to oppose Europa Oil & Gas’ plan for a 38m gas rig in the village of Burniston and expressed its “full and unwavering support for local residents in their opposition to the proposed fracking-style hydrocarbon development”.

​Europa’s plan proposed the use of a proppant squeeze method that has been likened to “small-scale fracking” and is allowed under current legislation. The company said it will appeal the refusal.

​Reform UK has said it would lift a ban on fracking which was introduced due to concerns about earthquakes and environmental impacts.

​“As a town council we voiced our opposition to [Europa’s proposal] in Burniston, on the basis that it didn’t have the community behind it and it was causing undue anxiety and stress for homeowners,” Cllr Murray said.

Asked how the town council’s stance squared with national Reform UK policy, Cllr Murray said: “If you look at Reform’s policy, it is with local consent and on that basis, that proposal in Burniston didn’t have local consent.”

​He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “It was really close to the town. I would say, if it was out further away from society, where it is not going to affect the local community, then frack ahead.”

​More than 1,600 objections were submitted against the plan by residents, local MP Alison Hume, parish councils including Burniston, Cloughton, Newby & Scalby and Scarborough town councils, and Friends of the Earth, among others.

​Professor Chris Garforth, Chair of Frack Free Coastal Communities’ steering committee, said the group appreciated the stance that Scarborough Town Council took in opposing the planning application by Europa Oil & Gas “despite the party’s national policy stance in favour of fracking”.

​He said: “They joined the local coastal parish and town councils to present a unified opposition that North Yorkshire’s strategic planning committee could not ignore.”

Prof Garforth described the town mayor’s comments as “a valiant attempt to square that stance with the national party line”.

​He said: “However, the idea that in this country there are oil and gas reserves in places which are ‘out further away from society, where [fracking] is not going to affect the local community’ is absurd.

​“All the areas where exploration licences are still in play and where companies are eyeing up the prospects if a pro-fracking government were ever to come to power are close to communities whose lives would be turned upside down if they get the go-ahead.”

Anti Fracking Protest March In Burniston. Courtesy Numminen/LDRS

​The proposed gas rig near Burniston and the North York Moors National Park had been recommended for approval by North Yorkshire Council, which said there were “no material planning considerations that warrant its refusal”, adding “there would be no unacceptable adverse environmental impacts resulting from the proposed development”.

​Europa said its scheme would be beneficial to the local economy and maintains that there is no ‘loophole’ in the moratorium on fracking.

​The campaign group FFCC said it remained focussed on ensuring that “drilling and fracking for gas at Burniston does not happen. That will include contesting the appeal against planning refusal that Europa have said they are considering.”

Wellbore Illustration. Europa Oil And Gas

​Prof Garforth added that the campaign group was “firmly against fracking in all its forms, anywhere”.

​“Fracking is being pushed by oil and gas companies to squeeze more and more climate-wrecking fossil fuels from the rocks beneath the UK. The science is clear – this will simply accelerate our descent to environmental, economic and societal disaster. We should be investing in a more rapid transition to renewable energy.”

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