Shropshire campaigners holding meetings against drilling schemes
Two meetings have been organised by protesters against plans to bring shale gas and coal bed methane drilling to Shropshire.
The public meetings will be held at Dudleston Heath Village Hall tonight at 7.30pm and at Hermon Chapel, Chapel Street, Oswestry, on Thursday at 7.30pm.
Both meetings have been organised by Frack Free North Shropshire and will include presentations by campaign group Frack-Off.
Campaigners have called the meetings to tell local residents how the area will be affected and to try to rally support to fight against the plans.
A spokeswoman for Frack-Free North Shropshire said: "Most of north Shropshire and Cheshire has been licensed for shale gas and coal bed methane exploration.
"Gas exploration company Dart Energy has been test-drilling at Farndon, near Wrexham. Its drill rig is expected at Upton, near Chester, any day now and three local sites – Dudleston, Babbinswood and New Marton – are likely to see test-drilling for coal bed methane.
"Across this region we could see hundreds of drill-rigs, miles of pipeline & thousands of truck movements. We do not want an industrial landscape where there used to be farmland and open countryside."
The meetings will coincide with a meeting of Shropshire Council planning committee, which is due to discuss a proposed planning application for exploratory drilling at Brooklands Farm in Dudleston, near Ellesmere, at its meeting tomorrow. The proposals for methane drilling in the area were revealed earlier this month by multinational company Dart Energy, sparking fears from protesters it may pave the way for controversial shale gas fracking. The firm says it only wants to investigate coal-bed methane gas and that it will only go ahead if no environmental problems are thrown up.
Meanwhile, a further meeting will be held in The Red Lion Hotel in Malpas, tomorrow from 7.30pm.
Organised by campaign group Frack Free Malpas, it will give people the chance to learn more about fracking and campaigns against it.
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has already spoken in favour of plans for shale gas extraction in the area.
