The company will start drilling four pilot wells on private property in the Forbesdale area next month. They are part of 110 wells that the company has permission to drill in the area as part of its current exploration licence.

Resident Robin Besier said some locals were less than impressed with information sessions about the new wells held on Monday.

‘‘They [AGL] told us everything was wonderful,’’ she said.

‘‘They are bringing another two rigs down from Queensland and will use 27 truckloads of gravel to build a road to the wells.’’

One of the new wells will be about a kilometre from the Besiers’ property.

‘‘It’s quite distressing because we moved up here from Sydney six years ago because of the peaceful rural environment,’’ Ms Besier said.

‘‘Now we are surrounded by coalmining and gold exploration licences.’’

An AGL spokesman understood the community’s concerns about land use conflicts.

‘‘However, we believe that because natural coal seam gas exploration and production is a safe, clean, low-impact industry, it can co-exist with other activities,’’ he said.

‘‘AGL has already demonstrated it can coexist with agriculture and equine activities at our Camden gas project and we have committed to maintaining existing land uses on properties purchased recently in the Hunter.’’

Gloucester communities sought to stop AGL’s activities in the Land and Environment Court last month when they argued that the Planning Assessment Commission did not give appropriate consideration to potential environmental impacts. The court is yet to deliver its verdict