Environmental campaigners have warned that the poorest people in Stirling could end up living in ghettos next to sites being drilled for underground gas.
A public inquiry is to be held next year into proposals by Dart Energy to extract coal-bed methane from Airth, near Falkirk.
Now campaigners say that, if Dart Energy is given permission to press ahead with its plans, it could signal a green light for more drilling sites in Clackmannanshire and Stirling.
Friends of the Earth Stirling co-ordinator Walter Attwood said: “If the planning application to begin the extraction of coal-bed methane near Airth is approved, it will only be the beginning of a process which will quickly move up through Stirlingshire towards the city itself and over into Clackmannanshire, with potentially 10-15 wells a year being drilled.
“In the process of the expansion of the gas field through Stirlingshire, a number of villages such as Plean, Cowie, Fallin and Throsk as well as smaller communities such as Dunsmore and South Alloa will be surrounded by the gas wells.
“When the gas field reaches Bannockburn and Stirling, it will stretch along the outskirts of the city, from the motorway service station at the junction of the M9/M80 to Logie Kirk, near Stirling University.”
Mr Attwood said creating so many drill sites would have an impact on future housing developments, leaving the area’s poorest and most vulnerable residents in accommodation closest to the drilling sites.
He said: “The environmental justice issues that unconventional gas development raises are considerable.
“The land allocated by the council for housing, in the communities mentioned, is unlikely to be taken up by developers for private housing and therefore could end up only being used for social housing.”