After a decade of deliberation and political debate, a shale developer has cleared the final hurdle to begin fracking for shale gas in the UK for the first time.

Government ministers granted Cuadrilla a final consent order days before the summer parliamentary recess, clearing the way for the firm to frack Britain’s first onshore shale gas well at Lancashire’s Preston New Road site.

Cuadrilla, which was founded in 2007, plans to apply for another consent order for its second well on the same site before carrying out the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing to test the flows of gas from both wells over a six month period.

The “momentous” milestone marks the first time that fracking has been approved to take place in the UK since debate over the potentially risky gas extraction method first began in 2007.

The UK is thought to hold vast untapped reserves shale gas within layers of underground rock formations.

But political support for the contentious plans to exploit this natural resource has ebbed and flowed with each successive government, against a backdrop of fierce local opposition and sliding public opinion.