The British government on Thursday set out draft regulations defining areas protected from shale gas industry, including the proximity of any activity beneath national parks, areas of outstanding beauty and groundwater.

The draft regulations stipulate that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can only take place below 1,200 metres in protected areas.

Britain's pro-shale government has faced opposition from local politicians who have rejected two projects that could have become the country's first shale gas-producing wells.

Opposition has come from anti-fossil fuel campaigners and local residents, some citing environmental threats posed by fracking fluids and others a negative impact on house prices.