COUNCILLORS in North Yorkshire will decide today whether to allow the first fracking operation in the UK for five years.

For the second day, protesters including local residents, farmers, business people and objectors from across the British Isles have gathered on the lawns outside County Hall in Northallerton, where the North Yorkshire County Council meeting is being relayed over a speaker system.

And this morning Nicholas Howard, of Castle Howard, put out a statement in support of the fracking objectors.

Licences have been awarded for fracking beneath the Castle Howard Estate, a 17th century building made famous in Brideshead Revisited.

He said: “Castle Howard is surrounded by Grade 1 monuments, buildings, and other structures, not the least of which is the finest non-urban collection of Hawksmoor buildings in the country. These are prime heritage assets for which I am responsible.

“I would be derelict in my duties were I not to raise the possibility of their ruination through seismic events caused by the hydraulic fracturing process and associated processes. It has yet to be demonstrated that this is not a material worry.”

He continued: “Along with many others I am appalled by the government's anti-democratic decision to give themselves the power to over-rule local decision making when it does not suit them, particularly in the light of their earlier pledges to give more decision-making powers to local government, rather than taking it away.”

The last statements from those objecting were made at the meeting this morning.

One of the first to speak was physicist Professor Nick Cowern, who told the meeting fracking is a more powerful source of greenhouse gases than conventional gas production.

He said: “Up to date figures showed fracking has 44 per cent higher potential for greenhouse warming, which means fracked gas is worse, not better, than imported or conventional liquefied gas.”

He said that overtime it was also worse for climate change than coal production.

The Northern Echo:

Victoria Buchan, from Lancashire Nanas against fracking at the protest today

Hovingham resident Frank Colenso said the decision was a “David and Goliath” with residents pitted against major industry.

“Over 4,000 people have taken the time and trouble to express their opinion because they have legitimate concerns about this industry and 90 per cent of respondents remain unconvinced by Third Energy’s consultation,” he said, adding it was “democracy in action”.

He urged the committee to reject the plans on the basis of fears for air pollution, groundwater pollution, the threat from seismicity, and the threat to their rural and economic way of life, the existing regulations for the industry was for off-shore gas production, not for production “in the heart of rural communities”.

UK firm Third Energy wants to frack for shale gas at its existing drilling site near the village of Kirby Misperton, between Malton and Pickering.

Those representing the fracking industry are now speaking before the planning committee.

Third Energy’s operations director John Dewar said there are a lot of myths and misunderstanding surrounding the process. He said the hydraulic fractures created would be only the thickness of a finger, hundreds of metres underground.

“If this application had been for conventional gas working, I am sure it would not have attracted the same level of public and press attention. What a difference a word makes,” he told the meeting.

He said many people in Ryedale supported the gas industry, but were scared to say so in public and many of the objections demonstrated how, “A little bit of knowledge, coupled with a lack of technical understanding and fear creates misunderstanding and even scare stories.”

Ken Cronin is chief executive of UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG) which represents the UK oil and gas industry. He said the UK industry had far tougher regulations than those countries where many of the most concerning stories about fracking had emanated from and said instances where fracking had gone wrong were mainly due to poor operation and poor construction of wells.

He said the use of unnamed chemicals, emissions from waste water lagoons, flaring of surplus gas and spreading of fracking waste products on roads were allowed in other countries, but not in the UK.

Mr Cronin said the UK needed to look at the moral and environmental issues relating to importing gas, especially from countries where environmental and human rights standards were lower than that of the UK. 

Planners have recommended the plan is approved but, on Friday, councillors on the county council's planning committee listened as speaker after speaker outlined environmental concerns over the controversial hydraulic fracturing technique, ranging from global level climate change to the proximity of ponds, bees and bats to the proposed drilling rig.

Around 300 anti-fracking protesters, many wearing Yorkshire white roses, created a festival-like atmosphere outside with music and stalls.

This afternoon Ryedale B&B owner Lorraine Allinson, told the planning committee that she was born and raised on a farm in North Yorkshire, where she still lives. She said 26 years ago, when Knapton gas power station was proposed, people warned of the damage to agriculture and tourism, adding: “They were wrong. They lied.”

She said: “We had tears, fears and strange ideas on Friday. The only credible one with any knowledge of the industry admitted fracking could be done safely.”

At one point she queried how many of the supporters came from Yorkshire, prompting a loud cheer from the crowd outside.

Chief executive of Third Energy, Rasik Valand said if the application was accepted they would see it as a “huge responsibility” - not a victory -  and there would be rigorous monitoring.

He said: “Tourism, farming and the gas industry work side by side successfully as has been demonstrated by the existing operation for the last 20 years.

“Damage to tourism will not be done by this operation, but by negative campaigning. As was said on Friday, bad publicity does not fill hotel rooms or B&Bs.”

No fracking has taken place in the UK since 2011, when tests on the Fylde coast were found to have been the probable cause of minor earthquakes in the area.

Since then, two high-profile applications to frack in Lancashire have been rejected by councillors and are now the subject of appeals.

Third Energy wants to frack for shale gas using an existing two-mile deep well - called KM8 - drilled in 2013.

Mr Valand has stressed that the well site has been operational for decades for non-fracking extraction.