The National Trust has written a heartfelt letter to a fracking company, urging it to abandon plans to survey one of its estates for shale gas reserves.

Ineos Shale currently holds a licence to carry out pre-fracking tests in Nottinghamshire and is trying to force the Trust to grant it access to the Clumber Park.

Although the Government’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) says the company must gain permission from landowners, Ineos claims that National Trust opposition is ‘overly and overtly political’ and has appealed to the OGA to intervene.

In response, Clumber Park general manager Beth Dawson has written to Lynne Campbell, the Planning and Environment Manager at Ineos, making a personal appeal to her to stop the application, and inviting her to visit the 3,800 acre estate so she can see the ‘nature-rich oasis’ for herself.