THOUSANDS of wells must be dug across Hampshire to make fracking a success, a Southampton MP has warned.

Local people would have to get used to the sight of “pads” of wells typically covering an area twice the size of a football pitch, Alan Whitehead said.

Shale gas – strongly backed by George Osborne – would also require millions of gallons of badlyneeded water to be taken from underground, the MP believes.

Yet, it would not cut energy bills, Mr Whitehead argued, because prices were decided by the way gas is traded in international markets.

Daily Echo: Alan Whitehead

During a Commons debate, the Southampton Test MP urged ministers to instead throw their weight behind breaking down waste to produce fuel.

He told MPs: “I want to address the consequence of us deciding that we really were going to go for a shale gas ‘bonanza’.

“For shale gas to do that, we would have to produce just over 100,000 shale gas wells across this country.

“There is a popular misconception that drilling for shale gas is like drilling for offshore North Sea gas, but that is not the case.

Daily Echo: Gas companies get licences for fracking in Hampshire

“How would those 100,000-plus wells be built? It would be on the basis of pairs of football ground-sized pads across the country, concentrated in particular areas, perhaps including my own area, Hampshire.”

Mr Whitehead argued instead for “anaerobic digestion” plants – breaking down biodegradable waste – to produce the ten per cent of the country’s energy needs planned from shale gas.

The MP is the second to speak out strongly against the hype surrounding shale gas, after Conservative George Hollingbery for Meon Valley warned it could be “disastrous” in Hampshire.

Yesterday, the Chancellor announced generous tax breaks for shale gas, plus financial incentives to tempt communities to accept the technology.

But the process is hugely controversial, because it involves blasting underground rock deposits with water, to release trapped pockets of gas.

The alarm has been raised over groundwater contamination and toxic air around sites. In the Blackpool area, fracking was blamed for causing small earthquakes.

Earlier this year, the Daily Echo revealed that eight drilling licences for possible fracking sites in Hampshire had already been issued to gas companies.

They are located: l In north Southampton, stretching east from North Baddesley all the way to the A3051, at Fairthorne.

  • North of Winchester, from Kings Worthy stretching west almost to Stockbridge.
  •  Further north in the county, reaching from Chilbolton and then west to Amport.
  •  East of Winchester, based underneath HAMPSHIRE: Well ‘pads’ would be twice the size of a football pitch in countryside Thousands of wells need to be dug for fracking Hampage Wood.
  • Stretching west from Hinton, in the New Forest.
  • From east of Fareham, stretching further east.
  • Two licences stretching east from the Hambledon area.

However, it is unlikely that all the sites would be fracked – even if drilling went ahead – because many have the potential to generate conventional gas instead.