Villagers campaign against gas field plans

Protesters have marched through a village to oppose plans for what could be the largest onshore gas field in the UK.

More than 200 residents and supporters marched through Burniston near the North Yorkshire Moors to oppose the small-scale fracking plans by Europa Oil and Gas.

Resident Steve Illingworth lives next door to the planned site. He said he was concerned about the level of noise and light pollution as well as the environmental impact.

But Europa Oil and Gas chief executive William Holland said once the site was running it would have a minimal impact to the local area.

The oil and gas exploration company submitted plans for the scheme to North Yorkshire Council on February 17 but a decision has yet to be made.

The plans would use a 'proppant squeeze' procedure, which has been regularly used in the UK for a number of years.

Mr Illingworth said: "It's noisy, it's polluting, it's a 24/7 flood lit operation with a tall tower right next to the Cleveland Way.

"Even in the first five weeks it's going to be a 24/7 operation with HGVs on this busy road turning into this drive and bringing in chemicals and taking out toxic waste, on the roads where our kids walk and go to school."

Mr Holland said the proposed plans were to test the site for potential development.

He said if the development did go ahead it would be the largest onshore gas field in the UK, creating long-term jobs for the local community.

He said: "Once it's in production there would be well heads there and gas processing facilities but you wouldn't notice it.

"We have a world-class regulatory environment in the UK that governs drilling activity and it looks at the impact to the environment, noise and light pollution and impact to traffic.

"The assessment that we've got on the air quality impact shows that it's going to be an insignificant impact.

"There will be a very small increase in HGV traffic during the drilling itself but once it's online there will be no increase in traffic. So it's a relatively small impact."

The protests were organised by groups Frack Free Coastal Communities and Frack Free Scarborough.

Opposing the plans, resident Naomi Thomas said she was concerned about how the small village would cope with an increase in traffic.

She said: "I'm not sure how the village will cope with the infrastructure of all the lorries coming backwards and forwards, and also from the environment point of view, it's not good news."

Resident Oscar Tomlin said he was concerned about the effect the project could have on the local economy.

He said: "There will be damage to local tourist economy, disruption of businesses.

"We want the planners to take those seriously, and we want the council to take these concerns seriously. We don't need this gas to be pumped out and burned."

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