The government has produced estimates of shale gas deposits across the North of England, including parts of the East Midlands. These are in a report by the British Geological Survey (BGS, based in Keyworth) - see DECC website.

The report also defines potential zones for shale exploration. That includes an area to the South and West of Nottingham, between Derby and Melton Mowbray. And a more extensive area covering the North of Nottinghamshire as well as large parts of Yorkshire extending into Lincolnshire.

The BGS identifies two main layers of 'Bowland Shale'. The upper layer covers large parts of Lancashire and North Yorkshire, and includes an area in North Notts – roughly the area bounded by Worksop-Retford-Gainsborough-Doncaster-Rotherham. This is more accessible and already being explored by Cuadrilla near Blackpool.

There is far more gas in the lower layers which are much thicker in some areas, but in places are 3,000 metres deep.There is a thick layer in the 'Widmerpool Trough' extending East of Derby under Long Eaton, Stapleford, Beeston and Clifton and extending into the rural areas towards Loughborough and Melton (area coloured orange on the map):

The Western end of this area is under the River Derwent – from which drinking water is extracted at Church Wilne. MPs whose areas could be affected include Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire), Jessica Lee (Erewash), Anna Soubry (Broxtowe), Kenneth Clarke (Rushcliffe) and Nicky Morgan (Loughborough).

There is a more extensive area of Lower Bowland Shale under North Notts and South West Yorkshire – roughly in an area bounded by Chesterfield-Mansfield-Lincoln-Leeds-Manchester, plus a smaller area between Edale and Stockport (area coloured orange on map; lilac area indicates both Upper and Lower Bowland shales):

Fracking coal layers

The report does not include consideration of the coal layers under the Eastern half of Notts. There are already two companies considering fracking coal seams in the North of the County.

It is likely that these coal seams will be exploited first, then the Upper Bowland shales North of Worksop-Retford-Gainsborough. So it could be a few years before we see serious fracking around Long Eaton.

See our campaign page for background information on companies interested in fracking for shale gas in the East Midlands, and on the process of fracking. The main reason to oppose fracking is that the known reserves of fossil fuels globally are already more than we can safely burn upto 2050. Fracking requires large quantities of water and produces large quantities of contaminated water. It can also release methane into the atmosphere as well as potentially carcinogenic gases including benzene and toluene.