Just take a few seconds to reflect on the staggering natural beauty of Lancashire that we all take for granted.

Isn’t that a legacy you would like to leave to your children and grandchildren?

Within weeks you may lose that right forever.

As the fracking industry rolls out its campaign of half truths and selective facts our councillors are charged with making the most important decision to face Lancashire since the industrial revolution.

Many of us are not aware of the facts behind hydraulic fracking and the risks we face - earthquakes, pollution of ground water, gas flaring, toxic chemical contamination of land. These are facts taken from a recent publication in the medical journal, the Lancet.

Several wells have already been drilled in Lancashire and the surrounding areas. Only one was fracked on the Fylde and that caused earthquakes and had to be abandoned.

Generating the same energy with solar would more than double the already 10,000 people employed locally in the renewable energy sector.

Hydraulic fracking will bring significant increases in heavy road traffic. We have insufficient waste handling capacity in Lancashire so heavily contaminated waste will be hauled around the country by road.

To achieve the levels of shale gas that is being suggested by the fracking industry means there will be thousands of fracking wells throughout Lancashire.

Be under no illusion if the fracking industry is successful on obtaining consents to frack we will all be living in barren wasteland of oil fields within 10 years while the fracking fat cats get rich on our misery.

There will be no lush green fields or crystal clear water. You won’t want to buy locally contaminated produce. The wildlife habitats will eventually die back and who knows what contamination our coastlines will suffer.

Jasber Singh (via email)