RON Shambley in his letter hit the nail on the head and gave by far the main reason for totally opposing fracking in this area.

He rightfully points out that we still suffer from damage to buildings and roads due to subsidence from coal mining, and now and again unknown mine shafts fall in.

In other words the geology in the area of the Lancashire coalfield is highly unstable and any further disturbance from fracking in what is a very unstable area could have very serious consequences.

In addition the area is vital for water supplies to the towns and cities in the region, and some of this comes from spring water coming up from deep below the surface. We must not take any chances that this gets contaminated from fracking.

Not enough is known about the process to be sure it will be totally safe in this area and we must not take any chances. Whitehall mandarins may think it ok to just put a pin in a map to say where fracking can take place, but they know nothing of the area and we as citizens do.

It is noticeable there are no pins put into maps to licence fracking in the south east, fracking may be fine in the USA where there are millions of sq miles of unoccupied and unproductive land, but this is not the case in this little island and there are probably only a few areas in the UK where this can be said to be true. For home produced energy supplies, we should re-open our deep coal mines to be used until new nuclear plant especially fusion reactors can be developed, and in this country as we have plenty of fresh and salt water, look at developing generators from osmotic pressure, which has been looked at in Norway and is totally environmentally stable, using sea water and fresh water as its raw materials and brackish water as the sole waste product.

I am a Lib Dem supporter but believe in this case the opposition to fracking should be non political and concentrate on the facts of the situation with everyone working together to oppose the proposals for fracking in Bolton and the surrounding area. If all land owners refuse to allow the use of their land then no drilling can take place, so come on land owners join the campaign and lets block fracking before anything can take place.

Michael Langdon

Priory Place

Tonge Moor