Campaigners say they are winning the battle against gas drilling in Shropshire
Campaigners in Shropshire say they are winning the argument against drilling for gas, after landmark rulings elsewhere.
The group Frack Free Dudleston said decisions made in other parts of the UK give hope that plans to operate an exploratory borehole for coal bed methane extraction near Ellesmere will also be turned down.
Leader of the group Chris Hesketh said he remains "optimistic" that planning officers will refuse permission for the scheme after seeing plans elsewhere turned down over noise level concerns.
He said: "Last week, planning officers in Lancashire recommended refusal of a multi-site application there on the grounds of non-compliant noise levels.
"Aside from being pleased for the residents there, the particular relevance of this to us is that we have a non-compliance on the noise levels in this application, along with several other factors."
It comes after applicants Dart Energy demanded a decision after losing patience with Shropshire Council when a meeting of the council's north planning committee in October saw the decision delayed for more information.
The energy firm will now hear a decision directly from Government planning inspectors.
Mr Hesketh said that there is progress on a national level for groups campaigning against coal bed methane extraction and other controversial gas extraction methods, including fracking.
He said: "Next week there is a very important vote on the Infrastructure Bill.
"This legislation includes sections about allowing access to drill under peoples' property and then to dump underground whatever material the company wishes, including radioactive material."
He added that falling numbers of plans to drill for gas coupled with falling prices of renewable energy will soon make the controversial extraction process "unattractively expensive".
