FURTHER to some of the recent letters and comments about fracking.

I would just like to clarify some information for your readers. Cllr Morris, Cllr Silvester and Alan Johnson all make the claims that the Liberal Democrats issued the first licences for fracking. This is however untrue.

The first licences for fracking were issued in 2008 by the then Labour government at the time and no new licences were issued until August 2015. No PEDL licences (the licences required for fracking) were granted during the coalition government. I draw your attention to this quote made in the House of Commons on March 16, 2015, in answer to a written question regarding fracking: "A Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence (PEDL) is a pre-requisite before any oil and gas operations, including fracking, can take place. No new PEDLs have been issued since 2008."

Further research will allow readers to look at the actual licences themselves and they will note that all licences prior to the most recent ones issued in the past month will have been issued in 2008.

Mrs F. Platt

Westhoughton