A LONG-ESTABLISHED business in Clitheroe looks set to move on from where it has been based since 1936.

Hargreaves & Coates Ltd, a transport and haulage company, is seeking permission to knock down its premises in the town and construct six houses in its place.

The firm operates eight articulated tanker lorries from the site in Back St Paul’s Street in Low Moor.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Director John Hargreaves has submitted to Ribble Valley Borough Council a plan which will also see 12 car parking spaces created.

Nearby residents have been asked to send their opinions on the move to the council before a final decision is taken this year.

Cllr Val Cooper, who represents the area on Clitheroe Town Council, has hit out at the plans and said that Low Moor is already overdeveloped.

Permission was granted in 2012 for Taylor Wimpy to construct 52 houses on the land off Chapel Close. A series of smaller applications for the area have also been submitted and approved.

Cllr Cooper, who is not seeking re-election on May 7, said: “My feeling is that Low Moor already has too many houses and will struggle to cope with more.

“The access to the area is through one road, St Paul’s Street, and it is really bad at the moment with all of the traffic. I know it is only six houses but they will add to the problems that already exist. I opposed the Chapel Close development at the time and I hope the council sees this application as bad for the area.”

In a statement to the council, a spokesman for the applicant said: “In the context of the overall scheme and in identifying the design principles, the applicants have sought to achieve a development that is compatible with its surroundings, fits comfortably and neatly on the application site and is of a size commensurate with others in the immediate locality.

“The dwellings are sustainable and accord with all such objectives set out in the development plan and the National Planning Policy Framework. There will be no loss of light to any other property and no adverse effect upon any existing living conditions, particularly for those residents along St Paul’s Street and St Paul’s Terrace.”

Hargreaves & Coates Ltd is yet to announce where it intends to relocate to if the plan is given the go-ahead.