PLAID Cymru councillors have tabled a motion that the Vale of Glamorgan Council should be a "frack free" local authority’, ahead of this week’s full council meeting.

Barry councillor Ian Johnson, who wrote Plaid’s policy on fracking, said that it was an opportunity for councillors to show their disapproval of the process by which shale gas is forced out by pumping water at high pressure below the earth’s surface.

It follows a vote at the National Assembly, again tabled by Plaid Cymru, and other local authorities, such as Plaid-led Ceredigion, declaring themselves ‘"frack-free" because they did not support the use of fossil fuels in their energy mix.

Plaid Cymru councillor Ian Johnson said: “It has taken many years of campaigning by Plaid and by non-political groups such as Frack-free Wales, Villagers against Drilling, the Vale says No and others, but there now finally seems to be a consensus emerging that we don’t want to support fracking under the Vale."

Plaid Cymru group leader on the Vale Council, Councillor Chris Franks, added: “This week’s vote in full council will allow the Vale of Glamorgan Council to show their support for this position, and I hope that it will have unanimous backing, rather than just warm words that don’t really mean anything.”