ANTI-FRACKING campaigners claim an entire community will feel the impact if a company wins support to carry out a controversial drilling procedure.

THIRD energy UK Gas Limited (Third Energy) has announced it intends to apply for planning permission to explore the KM8 well at Kirby Misperton to assess the potential for extracting shale gas.

Fracking is the process of drilling deep underground to hydraulically fracture rock and extract the gas by blasting a mix of water and chemicals below the surface.

Opponents say lorries coming in and out of the village will disrupt hundreds of residents, and claim the potential for pollution is huge.

John Cossham, chairman and founder of Frack Free York, said: "This country has The Climate Change Act and we have to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

"If we start to build gas-fired power stations to generate electricity in 2020, they have a life span of 25 years and that means we will still be generating electricity with fossil fuels in 2045, and there's no way we will be able to hit our climate change obligations."

Mr Cossham also fears the process could pollute the aquifer - an underground layer of water - and cause irreparable damage.

He added: "If the borehole fails it may pollute the aquifer and once it's polluted there is no way of it being uncontaminated.

"We will not be able to use that water for watering crops, feeding cattle or taking tap water from it."

Cllr Andy D'Agorne, from York council's Green Party, said: "We oppose fracking both on the immediate environment concerns but also the impact on climate change and extracting more fossil fuels to burn.

"For the people that live there the immediate impact will be noise disruption from the lorries coming through and water supplies being contaminated by the process."

Richard Lane, of York and Ryedale Friends of the Earth, added: "We know there's a resource here and the people in Government really want to encourage it, so we fully expected it to come along. A lot of people in the area are absolutely outraged."

A Third Energy spokeswoman said: "Water will be delivered to site by our existing underground pipeline from Knapton Generating Station. The flow-back water from the fracture programme can then be sent back to Knapton, down the same pipeline. From here it will collected for safe disposal by an authorised Contractor.

"Third Energy is committed to sharing the benefits from our activities with the local community; either directly through increased employment or through the opportunities for local businesses to benefit from supplying goods and services for our operations.

"Most passers-by are oblivious to the location of our facilities in the area."