You’ve probably seen fracking has been in the news again, but you may not fully understand what all the fuss is about.

We’ve put together the following guide to explain the complex issue and hopefully fill in any blanks.

What is fracking?

Hydraulic fracturing, to give the process its full name, involves liquid being pumped deep underground at high pressure to fracture shale rock and release gas or oil trapped within it.

What is fracking’s potential?

The British Geological Survey suggests there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas resources in the Bowland Shale across northern England.

There are "modest" shale gas and oil resources in Scotland, with an estimated 80 trillion cubic feet in the Midland Valley and an estimated 6 billion barrels of shale oil in the area which stretches across Scotland and includes Glasgow and Edinburgh.

And there is an estimated 4.4 billion barrels of shale oil in the Weald Basin in southern England.

But it is not known how much can be extracted, with exploitable reserves thought to be much lower than the total estimated oil and gas.

Why all the controversy around fracking?

The process hit the headlines in 2011 for causing two minor earthquakes in Lancashire, prompting a temporary ban on fracking in the UK.

The ban was later lifted, with controls put in place to prevent tremors, but opponents fear it can also cause water contamination, noise and traffic pollution.

Environmentalists are also unhappy, arguing the focus should be on developing cleaner sources of energy such as renewables rather than new sources of gas - a fossil fuel.

Fracking is backed by the government, but why?

Based on what’s happened in the US, where shale gas has been widely exploited, ministers believe it could boost tax revenues, create jobs, reduce reliance on energy imports and bring down household fuel bills.

Aiming to phase out coal by 2025, and seeing gas as the future, the government has said it is going "all out for shale" with tax breaks and community payments to get the industry going.

Contrary to the government’s view, some experts have questioned whether fracking would have any impact on energy prices.

Why is fracking back in the news?

It’s down to North Yorkshire County Council backing an application by UK firm Third Energy to frack for shale gas at its existing drilling site near the village of Kirby Misperton. It is the first council to green-light fracking in the UK.

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Where else has fracking been pursued?

Shale gas company Cuadrilla had a planning application for exploratory drilling and fracking at two sites near Preston turned down by Lancashire County Council last June.

This has gone to a public inquiry which is due to put its recommendations to the government by early July.

In 2014, Celtique Energie had its application to drill a temporary well to test for oil and gas in the South Downs National Park in West Sussex rejected.

The refusal came after West Sussex County Council rejected a bid by Celtique for exploration near Wisborough Green, a conservation area just outside the South Downs National Park, the first time a council rejected a planning application from a shale firm.

Protesters stopped Cuadrilla drilling a test site in the West Sussex village of Balcombe in summer 2013.

It doesn’t sound like any of this affects me much – so I can forget about fracking, right?

Probably not. The issue may keep coming and going for a while yet but it’s not going to go away.

With so many areas of the country supposedly ripe for fracking, the actual process – or threat of it – is going to affect a lot of people.

Even if you live in a place not earmarked for fracking, the implications could still be huge for the reasons mentioned above – environmental concerns, reducing reliance on imported energy imports, fuel bills and so on. It’s a national concern.

Due to the wider implications, anti-fracking campaigners have called for a nationwide response to the decision allowing gas extraction in Yorkshire.