Campaigners and the Liberal Democrats have criticised the government after a minister overruled a Tory-run council to approve gas drilling on the edge of the Surrey Hills, despite accepting the scheme would cause harm to the natural landscape.
The decision, formally announced in a written statement by the housing minister Stuart Andrew, gives the green light to three years of exploratory drilling at a site near the edge of the Surrey Hills area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
