A CAMPAIGN has begun to stop controversial shale gas drilling - or fracking - coming to Buckinghamshire.

A petition has been launched by Euro MP Keith Taylor, one of the county's representatives in Brussels.

The Green Party MEP has made the call after the Bucks Free Press revealed in September that south Bucks could offered for bidders hoping to obtain licenses next year.

Wycombe Labour this week repeated its call for a full public consultation.

The process is unpopular with environmental campaigners, not least because of fears over earthquakes.

But David Cameron is an advocate and has encouraged all parts of the country to see it as a way to boost the economy and help ease Britain's fuel troubles.

The petition has over 350 signatures so far.

See it HERE.

Mr Taylor said: "As things stand Buckinghamshire is the only county in the south east of England not to have a campaign group keeping an eye on the fracking firms who are intent on carving up our countryside in the pursuit of shale gas.

"The risks of fracking are clear: it’s a fossil fuel that should be left in the ground."

Mr Taylor, who has visited Pennsylvania to see the effects of fracking there, encouraged opponents to contact his office to help form a campaign group.

Any planning applications for fracking activities associated with Shale Gas exploration or extraction would require planning permission from Bucks County Council as the Minerals Planning Authority.

A group of councillors has been tasked with creating an in depth fracking study to inform BCC's policy.

They are currently examining a wide range of information and examples on the process of gas and oil exploration and extraction and if there is a role for BCC to take.

It is expected the report to come back early in the New Year.

Mr Taylor called for them to take safety concerns seriously.

Chartered engineer and environmentalist Dave Hampton, from Marlow, who has stood in council elections as a Green party contender, said: "The more you look into it, the more you’ll see there’s nothing to like about fracking - as the 1,800 or so residents of leafy Sussex village Balcombe painfully discovered this summer and as 60,000 residents of Fylde, near Blackpool found before that.

"Fracking is a subject worth studying, now, before the drillers' lorries roll into our Bucks home towns.

"Please sign the petition. Send a strong signal that the people of Bucks won’t be walked over."

Cllr Ian Bates, Labour leader at Wycombe District Council, said: "On the one hand, we don't want a petition which dismisses fracking completely in Bucks without properly considering the options.

"On the other, we don't want BCC deciding in secret in a room somewhere in the county offices that licences can be awarded to large commercial companies who can move into Bucks and destroy our lives."

He cited water contamination from fracking as a major worry and insisted residents want the opportunity to have their say.

Another round of Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences will be available from the Government next year.

But there has been no approaches to BCC from developers as yet.