Third Energy, one of a handful of companies exploring for shale gas in the UK or Ireland, has lodged its bid to frac at a site near the Vale of Pickering in North Yorkshire.

Third is targeting the same Bowland Basin formations as Cuadrilla.

As with fraccing proposals all across the world the project has led to protest from locals concerned about the effects of hydraulic fracturing on groundwater and seismic events.

In 2011 Cuadrilla caused two small tremors near Blackpool which led to a temporary ban and mobilised campaigners against the industry.

Now, just days are Cuadrilla was routed at two drilling locations in Lancashire, primarily over traffic concerns, Third is pushing ahead with its own permit.

Third believes it can overcome opposition because its site has been home to a gas well that has been operating for 20 years.

It was earlier blocked from progressing its planning application for the proposed fraccing of the KM-8 well in the Kirby Misperton field because the North Yorkshire County Council wanted more information.

The junior opted to withdraw the earlier application and relodged it on Friday.

Third acquired its onshore assets in North Yorkshire through the purchase of Viking UK Gas and RGS Energy Services in 2011.

Gas was first discovered in the Vale of Pickering in 1985. Production from Third’s four gas fields – Kirby Misperton, Pickering, Malton and Marishes – began in 1995.

Gas production is primarily from the Permian-age Kirkham Abbey Formation and the deeper Namurian-age reservoirs, but the mature fields are in decline, and Third considers that shale gas has the potential for restore production and breathe new life into the Knapton Generating Station.

The KM-8 well was drilled in 2013 and samples taken suggested that the Bowland Basin section may be capable of flowing with stimulation.

The newly elected Tory MP for Thirsk and Malton, Kevin Hollinrake, has gone against his party’s pro-shale policy and says he will fight “tooth and nail” to prevent any shale gas development happening “in a way that industrialises the landscape”

He wants a 10km buffer zone between individual wells.

“We do not want the images of a fracced industrial landscape from North Dakota to become a reality here,” he told a Westminster Hall debate last week.

While he said he was keeping an open mind on shale gas overall, he said most voters in his area were concerned that fraccing will change their lives for the worse.

The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change says that any buffer zone policy is a matter for local planning authorities and should not be set nationally.

Triple also has an offshore portfolio, primarily in the southern North Sea.

Third is 97% owned by Barclays Natural Resources.