BARNSLEY could face fast-track drilling under Conservative shale gas plans, according to worried environmental activists.
Fracking is the extraction of shale gas from deep underground by pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into the earth to release it.
Most of the Barnsley area falls within exploratory fracking licences granted to three different firms but those companies must get planning permission before any fracking can take place.
Analysis by environmental action group Friends of the Earth claims under the current spread of licences, this proposed change would mean all four of the parliamentary constituencies covering Barnsley face fast-track test drilling if the next government is Conservative.
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
