The Environment Agency has opened a public consultation on its draft permit decision for giving the go-ahead for Cloughton gas exploration proposal - planning permission for the proposal was separately refused by North Yorkshire Council in May 2026.
Europa Oil and Gas Ltd have applied for a temporary exploration wellsite, known as Cloughton 2, near Burniston, North Yorkshire. The company proposes to drill a test borehole to assess the potential for conventional gas extraction – the Environment Agency consultation on its draft decision to grant a permit will run for six weeks until 23 September before a final decision is made.
The Agency said the consultation has been opened after carefully assessing the application to drill a test borehole to assess the potential for conventional gas extraction.
The permit includes the potential use of a well stimulation technique known as proppant squeeze. This is used to improve the flow of gas from rock by injecting a mixture of gelled water-based fluid and sand into the well under pressure to open small cracks in the rock.
Although the technique uses similar principles to hydraulic fracturing, the proposed activity is different from the shale gas hydraulic fracturing covered by the Government’s current suspension.
Planning permission refusal
The Environment Agency have explained that whilst planning permission for the proposal was refused by North Yorkshire Council in May 2026, planning permission and environmental permitting are separate legal processes with different responsibilities and legal tests.
The local planning authority decides whether a development should be allowed under planning law.
The Environment Agency must determine whether the proposed activities meet the requirements of environmental legislation and whether they can be carried out without causing unacceptable harm to people or the environment.
Because these are separate regulatory processes, the Environment Agency is legally required to assess the permit application independently of the planning decision.
Ian Foster, Environment Agency Area Manager for Yorkshire said:
“We recognise there is significant public interest in this application, particularly following the local planning authority’s decision to refuse planning permission.
“The Environment Agency has a different legal role. Our responsibility is to independently assess whether the application meets the requirements of environmental legislation and whether the proposed activities can be carried out without unacceptable risks to people or the environment.
“Our assessment is evidence-based and we have published the reasons for our draft decision. We encourage anyone with an interest in the application to read the consultation documents and provide their views before we make our final decision.”
Click here to access the consultation and related consultation documents online at the Environment Agency’s Citizen Space consultation website.
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