Residents' 'tell us' plea over gas plant

Moorland Energy confirmed it is pushing ahead with a scheme to build gas pipelines and a processing facility in Ryedale after exploratory drilling revealed sufficient reserves are available to make the project viable but a company spokeswoman refused to reveal the cost and scale of the development until public meetings are staged next month.

Exhibitions are due to be held in village halls in Thornton-le-Dale and Allerston on March 5 and Marsh 6, and the spokeswoman stressed a fuller picture of the development would be revealed then.

Coun Geoff Acomb, who represents the Thornton-le-Dale ward on Ryedale District Council, said more information should be made available.

Coun Acomb, who is also the chairman of Thornton-le-Dale Parish Council, said: "We need to be given a clear idea about the scale of the development, and hopefully this will emerge next month.

"There needs to be an open and transparent process. It is not about confrontation, and I would hope that there will be a proper dialogue with the company."

Exploratory drilling carried out from a well site at Ebberston in March last year revealed the field contains sufficient reserves to justify development.

The proposed scheme would provide gas for the National Transmission System, the UK's high-pressure mains gas pipeline. Moorland Energy is drawing up a planning application.

The leader of Ryedale District Council's Liberal Democrat group, Coun Howard Keal, said: "People will be demanding assurances about the exact nature of the proposals."

Ryedale residents have already expressed concern.

Lorraine Allanson, who runs a bed and breakfast and holiday cottage complex near Pickering, said: "So many businesses rely on the beauty of the area and if this gasworks is going to be a blot on the landscape we need to know where it will be."