North Yorkshire Council has postponed a decision on a planning application for a gas wellsite scheme.
The council’s strategic planning committee meeting was due to meet tomorrow to discuss the application from Europa Oil and Gas to build a temporary wellsite near Scarborough, with the aim of exploring the potential for natural gas testing.
However, the MHCLG has asked that the local authority issues no decision while the Secretary of State considers requests for the application to be called in for determination.
North Yorkshire Council’s assistant chief executive, Barry Khan, said the council cannot agree a new date for the committee meeting until the Planning Inspectorate confirms whether the application will be called in.
He added: ‘As this is a live planning application, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage.’
Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth has welcomed the delay on the application, with climate campaigner Tony Bosworth arguing that the council is ‘right to delay a decision on this deeply controversial fracking scheme while the Government is still reviewing its position.
Mr Bosworth said: ‘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.’
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