MY friend Tony Sedgwick seems to have become the local mouthpiece for the fracking industry. His letter in last week’s Gazette contains so many errors, it’s hard to know where to start.

Firstly, fracking will not affect gas prices. This has been confirmed by the Lord Browne, chairman of Cuadrilla, the major fracking company in the UK. Secondly, the treasury receipts will be nothing like those from the North Sea, thanks to the favourable tax regime put in place by the Chancellor. Thus, the “major economic benefits” of which Tony boasts will accrue to the fracking companies, and to no-one else.

The US report he cites covers only the impact of fracking on drinking water quality, and could be seen as a whitewash. Even so, it cites thousands of incidents where pollutants find their way from the fracking shafts into the local environment.

Those of your readers who lack the time to view Gasland on Youtube might like to search Wikipedia for ‘Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing’ – a balanced account of the facts.

In the end, however, it hardly matters which of us is wrong. Mr Cameron is wilfully blind to the risks, and his mind is made up. Our local MPs are mere lobby fodder, so their minds have been made up for them. In due course, like the entire country, Wiltshire will be “shafted”.

DECLAN MCSWEENEY

Victoria Road

Devizes