AN EXPLORATORY fracking well is expected to be drilled in outlying areas of York within the year.

Frack Free York says it understands that an exploration well is to be in operation in the Wigginton area of the city by the end of 2017.

Wigginton and Haxby – along with areas west and north-west of the city including Askham Bryan - lie within an area licensed for onshore oil and gas exploration by the private company IGAS. Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDL) allow companies to pursue a range of oil and gas exploration activities to obtain rock samples and find out if industrial fracking is commercially viable. If so, a planning application is submitted for shale gas extraction.

Susan Turner, grandmother and co-founder of Haxby and Wigginton Against Fracking, said she found the lack of information shocking:

“No-one living near the potential fracking site in Wigginton or elsewhere has been told of this timeframe; we are being completely left in the dark.

“I have had to become a detective to uncover these plans which would utterly transform our local environment and peaceful way of life.”

Hundreds of square miles of North Yorkshire sit within areas licensed for onshore gas exploration.

Currently much of the eastern half of North Yorkshire is covered by PEDL licences, from Easingwold, Kilburn and Ampleforth in the west, to the Yorkshire coast, including York, Sheffield Hutton, Malton, Helmsley and Scarborough. PEDL licences have also been issued for central and southern areas of the North York Moors from just south of Danby down to Pickering. Currently wells are only allowed outside of national parks.

Great Ayton, Guisborough, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool sit under another licence area.

A spokesperson for IGAS, said it was "considering its options" in respect of the PEDL licence and said they would communicate with local communities in advance of any activity.