Map shows where fracking could take place in North East and North Yorkshire

The ban on fracking in England was removed by the government last month in a bid to increase domestic energy production in the face of soaring bills.

Fracking - shorthand for hydraulic fracturing - is when a well is drilled into the earth and a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped down it at very high pressure.

This fractures the rock and, when the pressure is released, the gas or oil flows back up the well.

Friends of the Earth fracking licence map shows where licences are in place Picture: Friends of the Earth (Image: Friends of the Earth)

A moratorium on the practice was imposed in 2019 after fracking-related earth tremors occurred in Lancashire.

However, the government has awarded licences for potential oil and gas extraction across England and with the ban now lifted, fracking could begin or resume at the licensed sites.

Friends of the Earth are campaigning to stop the practice, saying it damages the environment and flies in the face of the drive towards cutting carbon emissions via green energy sources.

And the charity has produced a map showing the areas of England covered by onshore oil and gas licences where companies have the right to search and bore for petroleum.

It shows that licences have been granted across a large swathe of North Yorkshire, including parts of the North York Moors National Park, the Howardian Hills and the Wolds in East Yorkshire.

A licence is also in place in Redcar, covering an area including South Bank, Grangetown and Kirkleatham.

Some of the North Yorkshire locations with licences in place are in the constituency of Thirsk and Malton Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake.

The anti-fracking camp at Kirby Misperton Picture: Northern Echo (Image: Northern Echo)

He believes that fracking could ‘provide national solutions to national needs and that it will provide a much needed source of energy’.

However the MP is clear that fracking ‘should only happen if it is safe and has no significant impact on the countryside’.

North Yorkshire is no stranger to fracking controversy.

In 2016 protestors set up a camp to oppose Third Energy’s fracking operation between Great Habton and Kirby Misperton, near the Flamingo Land theme park.

Three years of protests then followed, including slow walks along the road to the fracking site and protestors blocking vehicular access to the well by sitting on the road and forming human chains across the gateway.

Anti-fracking protests in Kirby Misperton Picture: Northern Echo (Image: Northern Echo)

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