THE New Forest Park Authority has raised the alarm after the Government was accused of breaking a promise to ban fracking in national parks.

An amended Bill paves the way for horizontal drilling for shale gas under protected sites from wells put up just outside them – potentially for up to three kilometres.

Yet, last month, ministers bowed to pressure from Labour and Tory backbenchers by conceding a total ban in national parks, including the New Forest.

In the Commons, energy minister Amber Rudd said ministers would not ban fracking “within or under” protected areas because the legislation needed to be “flexible”.

And she told MPs: “It might not be practical to guarantee that fracking will not take place under them, in all cases, without unduly constraining the industry.”

Such detail, and many other possible curbs on ‘hydraulic fracturing’, will not be decided until a separate vote in the summer – after the May 7 general election.

A spokeswoman for the New Forest National Park Authority said it would be “concerned if the Bill was enacted as it currently stood”.

She added: “That could still leave open development happening under the park, but we would want to know what the regulations governing the process would be.

“We would clearly welcome any further protection from oil and gas development in the national park over and above that currently given in national planning policy and guidance.”

At least eight licences for possible fracking have already been issued to gas companies in south Hampshire, including around Southampton and Winchester. Ministers hope the first wells will be dug this year, confident that opposition to fracking will fall away when they were up and running.

But criticism has also been made about the carrying of contaminated water underground and self-monitoring by fracking companies of any earthquakes triggered.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) acknowledged there was a “bit of uncertainty” about the eventual restrictions on fracking.

In particular, whether drilling could go ahead near groundwater sources was “yet to be determined”.

A DECC spokesman said: “We will provide further clarity in secondary legislation by the end of July.”

Rose Dickinson, of Friends of the Earth, said: “MPs voted to overturn a ban on fracking in areas that provide around a third of our drinking water – and opened the door to allow companies to drill horizontally under our national parks and other protected areas.”

The Infrastructure Bill, which includes a roads strategy and planning reforms, has now cleared all stages of Parliament and will receive Royal Assent shortly.