THE letter from Mr Barrie Slipper about the new fracking regulations on October 30 was exceedingly misleading and inaccurate.

He could not have read the debate in the Second Delegated Legislation Committee on October 27.

No surface fracking will be permitted on the surface in National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Beauty and World Heritage Sites, and lateral or sideways drilling only at not less than 1,200 metres, posing no risk to those areas.

Elsewhere in the groundwater source areas very strict conditions and safeguards will apply.

These areas are to be known as protected areas.

All this is in accordance with the Petroleum Act 1998, as amended by the Infrastructure Act 2015.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest are controlled by the Environment Agency and no adverse effects are permitted under the National Planning Policy Framework.

Alec Samuels, West End