The Environment Agency says the application has drawn "significant public interest" as it opens a fresh consultation on the disputed Cloughton 2 gas proposal near Burniston. From Monday 3 August, residents in North Yorkshire have been invited to comment on the regulator’s draft decision to grant an environmental permit for the temporary exploration site. For people living around Burniston, the move brings a scheme many thought had been knocked back in May straight back into view. The consultation will run for six weeks, longer than the usual period because of the summer holidays, and closes on 23 September.

Europa Oil and Gas wants permission for a temporary exploration wellsite known as Cloughton 2. The company’s plan is to drill a test borehole to find out whether conventional gas could be extracted from the area. That point matters locally. This is not, at this stage, a full production scheme, but an exploration proposal. Even so, for nearby communities, a test well is hardly a small thing when it lands on their doorstep and raises the prospect of future gas development in North Yorkshire.

One part of the draft permit is likely to attract the closest attention. It would allow the possible use of a technique called proppant squeeze, where a water-based gel and sand are pumped into the well under pressure to create small cracks in the rock and improve the flow of gas. The Environment Agency says the method uses similar principles to hydraulic fracturing, but is not the same as the shale gas fracking covered by the Government’s current suspension. That legal distinction may be clear on paper, but it is also likely to be the point many residents study most closely before deciding what they want to say.

The sharp edge in this story is that North Yorkshire Council refused planning permission for the proposal in May 2026. For plenty of local people, that looked like a straightforward answer from the authority closest to the site. But the Environment Agency is making the point, firmly, that planning and permitting are separate legal processes. The council decides whether a development should go ahead under planning law. The regulator’s job is different: it must decide whether the activities meet environmental law and can be carried out without unacceptable harm to people or the environment.

That is why the draft permit has been published despite the council refusal. According to the Environment Agency, it is legally required to assess the application on its own terms rather than simply mirror the planning outcome. Ian Foster, the agency’s area manager for Yorkshire, said the assessment had been based on technical evidence and urged anyone with an interest in the proposal to read the consultation papers and respond before a final decision is made. In plain terms, the regulator is saying local feeling matters, but it still has to work within the legal test set by environmental legislation.

The draft decision follows what the agency describes as a detailed assessment by specialist officers. It says that work included reviewing Europa’s application, the supporting technical information and responses received during an earlier round of public consultation. Nothing is signed off yet. The Environment Agency says all relevant responses sent in during this latest consultation will be considered before a final determination is reached, which means the Burniston proposal remains live but unresolved.

Residents can read the consultation documents and leave comments through the Environment Agency’s Citizen Space website. Anyone unable to get online can ask for help by contacting the agency on 03708 506 506. For Burniston and the wider North Yorkshire patch, this is a reminder that planning rows do not always end with one vote in a council chamber. The formal decision may sit with regulators and legal tests, but the pressure now shifts back to local people, who have until 23 September to make their views part of the record.