BOURNEMOUTH West MP Conor Burns spoke on BBC Radio Four (Westminster Hour, 18 August) forcefully telling the nation that fracking is good and “we’ve got to get out there and explain it.” I invite him to do that on the pages of the Echo.

He admitted he is no expert on the matter but listens to those who are expert. Yet I must put him right on one point.

Fracking has not “been happening actually for 20 years in the UK.”

Hydraulic stimulation, yes.

The US-style “Massive Hydraulic Fracturing” carried out at Preese Hall in Lancashire in 2011 is unique in the UK.

Three of the six fracking cycles in that single well caused seismic events, one strong enough to damage the well casing and, under some proposed ‘traffic light’ regulations, strong enough to shut that site for all future operations.

But I am bothered less by earthquakes than by the bogus claims being made about the potential for fracking, not just here in the UK but also in the USA where fracking claims are also much exaggerated.

So I am most intrigued. What wonderful benefit from fracking could possibly outweigh all the bad stuff?

DR MARTIN RODGER, Bloxworth Road, Poole