DRILLING licences have already been issued for possible fracking underneath huge parts of Dorset, the Echo can reveal.

Gas companies have been awarded six licences in Dorset and eight in neighbouring Hampshire. Many of the licences are not new, but because they do not specifiy the means of extraction, would allow fracking.

The new technology – formally known as hydraulic fracturing – is 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 Lancashire, fracking was blamed for causing small earthquakes.

Greenpeace, the environmental group, has mapped the areas covered by licences, using information from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

In Dorset they cover most of the southern area of the county, from Christhcurch to Chickerell.

Possible drilling sites in Dorset

Dorset Echo:

The Echo is trying to establish more detail about where in Dorset the sites are and will update as soon as we know.

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.

The British Geological Survey has mapped potential shale gas reserves around the country and suggested massive gas reserves worth millions of pounds could be hidden beneath Dorset.

Thousands of jobs could be created if drilling companies believe it is worth trying to extricate the supplies, which have lain buried in tiny holes in rocks for millions of years.