Today I paid another visit to Kirby Misperton, where I came face to face with as many as 300 protestors. Many of them were local, but there were some from the national campaign. I was delighted to have had the opportunity to answer questions directly as I am always willing to meet people if they have concerns about any issue. Most of the concerns raised were about climate change, contamination of water and air and traffic movement. I was therefore able, once again, to stress the importance of tight regulations and monitoring throughout the shale gas extraction process. I will continue to support it, in the interests of the UK energy supply and the economy, so long as the process is sensitive to the environment and the countryside.