A new survey has shown that more than 64% of Brits would be reluctant to purchase a home near a fracking site, however 32% said that they would be in favour of fracking if it meant reduced energy bills.

The OnePoll survey, carried out by House Extension Online, asked 1000 respondents throughout the UK if they would ever consider buying a house close to a fracking site, and whether they were for or against fracking if it meant a reduction in their energy bills.

More than 64% of respondents said that they would be reluctant to purchase a home close to a fracking site. In response to the question, 21% said that they were somewhat unlikely to consider buying a home near a fracking site, while 43% said that they were very unlikely to do so.

When looking into the ages of the respondents, 45 to 54 year olds were the age group most unlikely to buy a home near a fracking site (68%) compared to 59% of 18 to 34 year olds. There was also a higher number of women (63%) who said that they were unlikely to buy a home near a fracking site compared to 54% of men.

Conversely, when respondents were asked if they were for or against fracking if it would reduce their energy bills, 32% said that they were in favour of fracking. However, this sentiment was nearly matched however by 31% of respondents who stated that they were against fracking even if it resulted in lower energy bills.

The age group who were most in favour of fracking if it would mean lower energy bills were the over 55s with 36%, while the age group least in favour were 35 to 44 year olds with 37%. As with the responses around buying a home close to a fracking site, it was once again men who were more in favour of fracking to cut their energy bill with 42%, compared to 35% who were against it.