DESPITE years of protests against the Byley gas plant residents have declared themselves 'satisfied' with the developer.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott approved plans for a controversial eight cavern gas storage facility at Drakelow Lane in 2004 in the face of objections.

Power giant E.ON.UK bought the plant site from Scottish Power last August.

E.ON spokeswoman Emily Highmore said: 'We set up a liaison committee in August, which meets every three months. It contains resident representatives, parish, borough and county councillors and meets to discuss relevant issues and concerns about the plant, as well as development progress. We have started work on things like landscaping and road building, but we won't begin on the actual caverns until this time next year.'

The company's approach has impressed committee members - including some who actively opposed the plant.

David Ord, committee representative for Residents Against the Plant, said: 'We've had four meetings so far and I think E.ON has made a good start.

'Given that we can't do anything about the plant being built, our main concern is that the development harms our local environment as little as possible - and the company has kept us up to date and informed so we can try to make sure that's the case.

'When the drilling work begins and residents start complaining about the noise 24-7, we will see how E.ON can respond. But so far, they have been very professional and responsive to people's questions and complaints.'

County councillor George Mainwaring said: 'E.ON has let us know what's gone on at every stage of the process so far, but I think a couple of things overtook us all,' he said. 'It was surprising that even though the site will only have three boreholes, the development requires land equivalent to three to four football pitches. And in recent weeks it has become clear that the amount of extra traffic in the region will be much higher than we first thought.'

It seems likely that the Drakelow Lane gas plant itself will add around 80 lorries per day to King Street and Drakelow Lane.

He said: 'Effectively, King Street and Drakelow Lane will be full of wagons. This isn't entirely the fault of E.ON, as for some reason Cheshire County Council won't compare developments to one another - but this site will contain eight chambers and another planned for Lostock will contain 28.

'Then there's a waste site planned for Bostock. Looking at them all together, there could be a massive increase in traffic through the region and in small villages like Byley that could be devastating.'