A FIVE-YEAR saga over plans to build a crematorium in Radcliffe is due to end tonight (Thurs Sept 6).

Planning bosses are expected to approve the controversial £1.5 million development in Cemetery Road, despite protests from neighbouring householders.

Councillors will visit the site early today, and residents who are fiercely opposed to the project will attempt one last time to deter them from granting full planning approval.

Householders object to traffic, access, the effect on the environment, and the general inappropriateness of having a crematorium so close to a residential area. They say processions of funeral corteges along Greenbank Road would also have a detrimental effect on local housing, trees and wildlife, as well as causing emotional distress to those living nearby. Mr Frank Leach, who lives in Greenbank Road, said: "We want them to see the situation for themselves and will be reiterating all our objections."

Residents held a meeting on Monday (Sept 3) to discuss their objectives and they will also be attending tonight's planning meeting.

The application has been submitted by global funeral firm Service Corporation International (SCI). It was awarded a 125-year lease by Bury Council in September 1999 after submitting the most competitive bid.

Outline planning permission was granted for the development in March 1997 despite a 166-name petition against it. In June this year, a site visit was postponed after residents pointed out that many people who wished to be present would be away on summer holidays.

Bury South MP Ivan Lewis is backing the residents and has expressed "serious concern" about the highways access proposals which he believes are "ill conceived".

He has asked that any decision is deferred until acceptable proposals are formulated.

And Radcliffe North councillor Tim Chamberlain is also lending support. He has objected that projections for traffic use were undertaken before the development on Sycamore Drive and Chestnut Close.

He also feels that local provision should be given for alternative burials which are less harmful to the environment than incineration.

The proposed crematorium would consist of a one-level brick and stone building with a slate roof. There would be two gas-fired cremators and the chapel would seat 84 with additional space for 30 more seats.

The building complex would occupy only a small proportion of the land with the remainder being used for a 90-space car park, a garden of remembrance and general landscaping.

Members of the planning control committee have been advised to grant conditional approval subject to the submission of a written ecological assessment concerning the impact of the development on the Great Crested Newt. This is a protected species believed to inhabit Marl Pits at Black Lane immediately next to the site.