COMMENTING on the Prime Minister’s decision to end the moratorium on fracking, Tom Fyans, director of campaigns and policy at CPRE, the countryside charity, said: “Giving fracking the green light is a hideous mistake.

“If the purpose is to tackle bank busting gas prices, it’s an exercise in futility. Even if we were to go full steam ahead on fracking, which nobody wants, least of all rural communities, it wouldn’t make a dent on the cost of energy anytime soon, or ever.

“Any move to industrialise the countryside and belch yet more fumes into

our carbon-soaked atmosphere will prompt a furious response from local communities, drawn out planning delays and nationwide protests.

“Hardly a proposal to keep families warm this winter, or lower bills in the future.

“The new Chancellor got it right in March, when he said fracking would take up to a decade to extract sufficient volumes — and it would come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside - Nothing has changed.

“Proposals to offer local people discounts on their bills in exchange for environmental destruction on their doorsteps need to be seen for what they are – a feeble attempt to bribe vulnerable rural communities to accept an unpopular, unsafe and polluting process that will destroy their tranquility.

“Local communities need to make their voices heard loud and clear - they were right to resist before and should continue to do so.

“The answer to the fossil fuel price crisis is to reduce usage with a mass insulation drive, alongside a clean energy sprint.

“There has never been a better time to transform our energy infrastructure to ensure a future of abundant green power.

“Renewables are around nine times cheaper and far quicker to plug in than any alternative.

“Families facing the biggest drop in living standards on record need renewable energy to become the central pillar of a modernised energy system.

“And they need it to happen fast.”