Campaigners launch city plea to ban fracking

AN anti-fracking group have launched a campaign urging Glasgow residents to oppose government plans.

Frackwatch Glasgow launched the ‘Love Scotland - Ban Fracking’ campaign as the government consults on whether the controversial gas extraction should be allowed in areas including Bishopbriggs, Robroyston and Milton and nearby in East Dunbartonshire and Lanarkshire.

The group believes the extracting process could pose a risk to health, to air quality, and quality of life for people living near the drilling, with noise and heavy traffic.

Fears were also raised that some of the thousands of fracking wells would be created could leak, causing groundwater contamination and climate pollution.

Fracking has already been banned in several countries, including Germany and Wales.

Petrochemical firm Ineos has stated that it has invested more than £1 billion in the Grangemouth facility since it acquired the site in 2005, having already construct- ed the largest shale gas storage tank in Europe.

Jim Ratcliffe, the founder and chairman of the company, also said unconventional gas extraction could transform communities that have been blighted by the collapsing in manufacturing, as it has in the US.

Penny Cole, of Frackwatch Glasgow, said: “More and more states and countries are banning fracking.

“Should Scotland not join this progressive alliance, rather than follow the Tories in England?”

A four-month consultation on fracking will run until the end of May.

The Scottish government then plans to make a recommendation that will go before MSPs for a vote towards the end of the year.