Meeting on concerns over drilling scheme

Campaigners fighting the plans in Dudleston, near Ellesmere, have now called a public meeting to discuss the plans.

The meeting will hear about proposals to drill a temporary coal-bed methane exploration borehole on land north west of The Brooklands in Dudleston.

It has been organised by the Shrewsbury and North Shropshire Green Party, which is calling on Shropshire Council's planning committee to listen to the concerns of residents and throw out the plans.

A decision on the application was expected to be made by the committee last month but the deadline has since been pushed back to a date to be fixed.

Green Party councillor Duncan Kerr, from Oswestry, talked to people about the proposal at the Blackberry Fair in Whitchurch last weekend.

He said: "Many local people were aghast to hear that this beautiful area of north Shropshire could be turned into an industrialised landscape of oil rigs and storage tanks if we allow coal-bed methane extraction and fracking to occur.

"If we value our water supplies, the tranquillity of our landscape, and want to keep our local roads free from large volumes of extra lorry traffic, we must say no this unnecessary drilling.

"The Green Party has shown that by increasing the development of renewable energies we do not need to exploit coal-bed methane or frack shale deposits.

"Leaving these gases in the ground would also reduce the devastating impact of climate change that would be accelerated by burning this gas."

Professor John Whitelegg, from the South Shropshire Green Party, added: "This planning application is paving the way for fracking across the whole of Shropshire.

"This is not something that should be imposed on our communities.

"The scientific literature identifies health risks that are still not fully understood and it is unethical to expose human populations to these risks when they can so easily be avoided.

"Shropshire Council needs to make the link between this application and its wider public health responsibilities and reject the proposal."

Representatives from campaign group Frack Free Dudleston and from the protection camp that has been set up on the proposed drilling site in the village have been invited to attend next week's meeting.

Campaigners say exploratory drilling for coal-bed methane gas could lead to fracking for shale gas in future.

The meeting will take place on Friday at Big Red's House, High Street, Whitchurch, at 7.30pm.

The scheme for Dudleston has been put forward by Dart Energy, which denies it has any plans at the moment to explore for shale gaseven though the area sits on both coal and shale.