IN A letter published January 7, I am accused of detailing few facts about fracking and also scaremongering, but your correspondent missed the point.

We at Frack Free Cotswolds, based in Cirencester, aim to explain what we are facing.

As the juggernaut of the fracking industry moves from Northern England to elsewhere, we become increasingly threatened.

There are no takers at present for the licences to frack here in the Cotswolds, but even at this early stage in the development of the industry, licences for unconventional gas have been awarded only 40 miles away in the Forest of Dean and also in the Trowbridge and Warminster areas.

The government’s recent changes to Planning Law means that AONBs are no longer protected, because the industry will drill under them from their official borders.

It will be a fight to save our countryside.

Our best defence is education.

We can protect our environment and our families only by knowing what we are facing.

Some fracking facts: 20-80 per cent of frack fluid is left in the fractured rock strata.

The rest is returned as even more toxic production fluid, which has to be disposed of at specialist sites.

Millions of litres of fresh water and production fluid, which has to be disposed of at specialist sites.

Millions of litres of fresh water and production fluid ensure up to 6,000 juggernaut movements are required per well.

Self-reliance in gas will require 11,000 active wells, in full production.

Some wells only viably produce for 9 months. Even the industry doesn’t dispute the fact that earth tremors and subsidence will result as fracked rock strata slip.

Everyone is invited to our FREE Open Meeting to find out about fracking, at the Organic Farm Shop on Burford Road, Cirencester, on Wednesday, February 3, at 7pm, where films on fracking and the alternatives will occur, followed by discussion.

DR JONATHAN WHITTAKER

Chairman of Frack Free Cotswolds