On Friday morning, Allostock resident Charlotte Peters Rock told inspector Bob Lyons that Cranage Airfield should be preserved to honour the memory of the men who served there.

She said: "Would our idealistic young men - and others - slaughtered during two world wars be happy about this - didn't they die so that we could live in peace?

"Yet how peaceful is our countryside when against all the carefully laid plans to keep us safe and to keep our countryside green and productive multi-national companies can pour money into getting anything they wish against representative councillors and against our countryside in this dairy county of England."

Earlier in the day John Oakley, who lives in Byley, said that if ScottishPower was given permission to build the plant it would greatly reduce his family's quality of life.

He said: "I and my family are very concerned about safety, I feel there is a real risk of gas leakage and that the local population has good grounds to be worried about it."