WINCHESTER is at risk of significant oil and gas exploration, including fracking, new evidence has shown. 

New analysis of areas in the country which have been granted a licence by the Government for oil and gas exploration has found Hampshire faces at least nine new fracking sites.

The sites total size of areas covered by a licence equates to a staggering 34,868 football pitches. 

Winchester is the worst affected area in the county with five sites permitted for drilling, covering more than one quarter of the constituency.

This comes as the government plans to officially lift a ban on fracking for shale gas by reviewing the level of earthquakes allowed at sites.

The British Geological Society recently published a report which refuses to endorse fracking.

The House of Commons Environment Committee has previously warned that fracking poses a risk to groundwater and a risk of polluting surface water.

They warned too that the need for “considerable quantities of water” for fracking “could pose localised risks to water supplies”.  

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The city's Liberal Democrats say the decision to lift the ban on fracking represents a major u-turn for the government, with Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng having previously stated that gas drilling would not bring gas prices and energy bills down.

Liberal Democrat candidate for Winchester, Danny Chambers, said: “Our treasured green land is at risk of being ripped up by dangerous and unnecessary drilling. 

“Oil and gas barons from around the world are queuing up to drill in Hampshire’s countryside and I fear local people will have no say in the matter whatsoever. I am urging Conservative MPs in Hampshire to stand up to their new Prime Minister and vote down these shameful new proposals.  

“It is a kick in the teeth that even the Government admits this kind of drilling won’t bring down energy prices. The local Liberal Democrats have been fighting tooth and nail against the unnecessary ripping up of our green land and will continue to defend local people’s interests.”

Campaign group Friends of the Earth has put together an interactive map showing the areas of England covered by onshore oil and gas licences. Companies with such licences have the right to search and bore for petroleum.

Many of the licenced areas overlap with potential areas of fracking for shale gas, identified by the British Geological Survey.