Fracking pledge by Cuadrilla

Cuadrilla Resources, the fracking company chaired by former BP chief executive Lord Browne, yesterday said it would improve monitoring of earth tremors at its drilling sites, around a year after the Government ordered it to stop activities in the Blackpool area after earthquakes were reported.

The group said it will use a so-called traffic light system based on a seismometer network, which measures earthquake activity through sound in real time.

"This stream of data means that the hydraulic fracturing process can be closely controlled and managed to prevent noticeable seismic activity," a Cuadrilla spokesman said.

The company stopped fracking work in June last year after minor earth tremors were measured near Blackpool, where it was working to extract shale gas.

A long-awaited decision on whether to allow fracking to resume in this country is understood to have been delayed until the autumn.