TRAFFORD Council committed to a fracking-free future this week.

Members supported a motion that said the authority would be ‘opposed to fracking until such time as it can be proved to be safe’.

Placard waving members of the Breath Clean Air Group and Green Party gathered outside Trafford Town Hall on Wednesday, November 12, to voice their opposition to the fracking process – which involves blasting hydraulically pressurised water into the sub-terrain to fracture rock and access previously inaccessible gas reserves.

Supporters say the method can revolutionise the UK’s energy industry, reducing dependence on imported gas and driving down energy prices.

Opponents point to fracking’s environmental impact – citing associated earth tremors from the process, the large amounts of water needed and subsequent pollution of the environment from chemicals used.

At Trafford Town hall on Wednesday night, November 12, Cllr Jane Bough said: “Don’t begin to imagine that the shale gas boom in the US can happen here. Look closely at the long term affects of drilling that we are now seeing in the US.

“Make no bones about it; fracking is a nightmare, with side effects of toxic and radioactive contamination, severe pollution, thousands of well and pipelines devastating our countryside and blighting our communities.

“Don’t forget about accelerating climate change, and all this to produce an expensive gas that will run out quickly, leaving abandoned wells littering the landscape.

“The scale of these intense methods are like nothing we’ve ever seen before. To replace just one offshore north sea gas field would require thousands of wells.

“Contamination of ground water has been a constant feature in the US, Canada and Australia.

“The average amount of water needed is about eight million litres per frack.

“We know our levels of air pollution in Trafford are already high."

Cllr Catherine Hynes added that experts were divided on the effects of fracking, which put a ‘huge question mark’ over the long term affects of the process.

The conservatives proposed an amendment to Labour’s anti-fracking motion, to read: “The council will not be supportive of fracking until such time as satisfactory evidence or beneficial community interest can be provided to allay public concerns.”

Outgoing Labour Group leader David Acton said the amendment represented a ‘watering down’ of the amendment, leaving Labour's original motion ‘very weak’.

Sean Anstee said he didn’t want to commit the council on an ‘ad infinitum basis while the debate is still alive’ regarding fracking.

However, it was eventually agreed with the support of all parties that Trafford Council would oppose any submission to carry out fracking in the borough ‘until such time as it can be proved to be safe’.

There are presently no applications to carry out fracking in the borough.