DAVYHULME CBM DECISION DEFERRED

The Council’s unusual last minute deferral announcement states that there are “a number of detailed and conflicting environmental issues”.

This raises some crucial questions and we will now be requesting the exact details of specifically which issues and specifically how are they currently understood to be in conflict.

Furthermore, we agree wholeheartedly that it is important that the Council acts to ensure that its decision is “fully informed” in relation to these matters, especially so since the iGas application seeks permission to impose consequences on our air, water, land, health and community for 25 years.

It is self-evidently not possible for the Council decision to be fully informed if the Planning Committee members are required to rely on limited internal Council resources and a partial briefing to Councillors recently by iGas, the applicant in this case.

BCAG will once again be offering to Councillors a briefing meeting that will contain vital environmental and other information that will assist the Council to be genuinely fully informed – information that will certainly not have been included in the iGas briefing.

We sincerely hope that our offer will now be welcomed.

Here is Trafford Council’s statement:

The Council has agreed to defer consideration of the application for Coal Bed Methane testing and production (81446/RENEWAL/2013) from tonight’s Planning Committee meeting in order to enable it to give further consideration to environmental issues raised by objectors.

This application has raised a number of detailed and conflicting environmental issues and it is important that the Council acts to ensure that its decision is fully informed in relation to these matters.

The application will come back to committee once we are satisfied that these issues have been addressed.