PLANNING chiefs will tonight (Thursday) again consider a controversial application for coal bed methane extraction in Davyhulme.

Trafford Council's planning committee will weigh up an application to drill for Coal Bed Methane (CBM) near the M60 Barton Bridge, between the motorway and United Utilities’ Davyhulme Waste Water Treatment Works.

Energy company, Island Gas Ltd, was granted planning permission for the site in 2010 but sought to extend the period of time within which the planning permission could be implemented by three years.

A decision was taken in 2014 to postpone consideration of the extension application to enable further consideration of environmental issues raised by objectors.

A subsequent report was compiled to provide Trafford Council with further information on potential greenhouse gas releases related to the proposed operations and a decision on the application is to be made at Trafford Town Hall tonight.

Breathe Clean Air Group (BCAG) said it will be ‘a momentous decision which will affect the health of the community for years to come’.

The group, who objected to the application, are appealing to councillors to reject the application, which is recommended for approval.

Pete Kilvert, chairman of BCAG, said: “Davyhulme is once again in the firing line. The once posh area of North Trafford will suffer another body blow is this is allowed. Methane leaks, the release of toxic chemicals and diesel exhaust pollution from heavy traffic and drilling plant will be a constant threat to the health of local children.”

The area cited for the lateral drilling would span underneath Peel Energy’s Barton Renewable Energy Plant (BREP) site.

CBM has been likened to fracking, but planning documentation outlines that no rock fracturing or ‘fracking’ takes place during the process.

If the initial tests prove the site to be a viable source, it would operate for a 25 year period.

The plans have come under fire from a number of individuals and organisations, with 330 letters of objection and a petition of 1,460 signatures submitted to the authority. Trafford Labour Party and three councillors have also had their opposition registered on the planning documentation.

A recommendation has been made to the committee that planning permission is granted as 'it is considered that the proposal would not have any unacceptable environmental, ecological, or social impacts'.