Scuffles break out at IGas Barton Moss site as application is made for new well in South Downs national park

Anti-fracking protesters clashed with police on Friday in demonstrations against shale gas drilling in Greater Manchester and against an application made for the first new well site since the South Downs national park was established.

There were scuffles between police and protesters at the IGas Barton Moss exploratory drilling site near Manchester. IGas, an independent oil and gas company, insisted the wider public was beginning to understand the benefits of shale.

"We support a right to protest but what we are finding now is that the debate on both sides is becoming much more informed. There will be always those opposed to any kind of fossil fuels but many people are beginning to realise that locally produced gas is a transition fuel that can live alongside and not replace renewables," said Andrew Austin, the chief executive of IGas.

Austin was keen to stress that there was no question of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), or of the controversial chemicals required being deployed with the current exploration well. That hole is being made vertically into the ground in search of shale gas or other hydrocarbons.

But Anna Jones, a Greenpeace energy campaigner, said it was difficult to see how IGas could be upbeat about its prospects. "They know the government has failed to sell fracking to the public, and that there is no public mandate for industrialising the English countryside and digging up new forms of fossil fuels … the fracking industry has a huge job to do convincing communities of the merits of this dirty, risky project."

Meanwhile another exploration firm, Celtique Energie, has submitted plans for a new well site at Fernhurst in West Sussex, where the high-profile local Conservative MP, Andrew Tyrie, has indicated he will campaign against it despite being in favour of shale more generally.

The Fernhurst site is not far from Balcombe, the centre of angry protests when a third shale gas explorer, Cuadrilla Resources, drilled a well there during the summer.

Anti-fracking campaigners say they are particularly opposed to the application from Celtique because it would be the first new site since the South Downs national park authority was formally established in April 2011.The land is considered to be of outstanding natural beauty.

Geoff Davies, chief executive officer at Celtique Energie, said his company recognised the importance of the South Downs national park to the local community in terms of culture, heritage and economic contribution to the region.

"The exploration well is a temporary structure which would have a modest impact on the local area during its relatively short period of operation," he said.

But campaign group Frack Free Fernhurst was unconvinced. It said: "This proposal may well lead to the use of a highly controversial technique called fracking which is a new technology and still at an experimental stage in this country. There are potential hazards involved which could have a devastating effect on the community and the environment of the surrounding area."

• This article was amended on 17 December 2013. An earlier version incorrectly placed Balcombe in the South Downs national park.