A CONTROVERSIAL council plan to turn 60 acres of green fields into 450 luxury homes has been recommended for approval.

The final blueprint for the redevelopment of farmland in north Blackburn, including the town’s rugby club, has now been unveiled.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Council officers have recommended the homes are passed and the plans will be decided at a meeting tonight.

They form part of the borough’s ‘Local Plan’ which earmarked 1,200 acres of countryside for 4,000 executive-style homes and was agreed in 2013.

The original proposal for the former ‘green belt’ land sparked opposition from hundreds of residents at protest meetings and petitions.

The new masterplan includes the first images of what the new the three, four and five-bedroom family houses could look like and divides the site into four distinct ‘character’ areas.

They are named The Whinney, The Waves, Bullion Moss Fold and West Wilworth.

The 60 acres is bounded by Ramsgreave Drive, Yew Tree Drive and Whinney Lane.

All five landowners have indicated an interest in the development although Blackburn Rugby Club has yet to make a final decision on moving.

Opposition councillors condemned the detailed scheme as ‘grandiose’ and ‘over-ambitious’ while doubting the demand for the properties.

But Blackburn with Darwen regeneration boss, Cllr Phil Riley, said they were vital to provide the homes needed to ‘attract people to come and live and work in the borough’.

He expects work on the first phase to start later this year if the plans are given the green light at tonight’s council executive board.

The document promises to ‘create a green leafy neighbourhood with generous private gardens and dwellings’.

The Whinney, near the junction of Yew Tree Drive and Whinney Lane, will be ‘a mix of predominantly brick and stone housing transitioning from a more formal, urban character to a softer more informal feel along the landscaped corridor’.

The Waves, in the centre of the site, will be ‘a mix of brick and rendered properties with a more formal character influenced by green streets and corridors’.

Both will have village-style ‘greens’.

Bullion Fold, on Whinney Lane, is to be ‘organic in character’ and a mix of brick and stone detached, semi-detached and terraced cottages, internal courtyard spaces and mews streets suggesting rural courtyards.

West Wilworth, at the Brownhill end of Ramsgreave Drive, will be ‘informal in nature’ with large detached and semi-detached properties arranged around shared courtyards.

The blueprint promises major improvements to Yew Tree Drive and Ramsgreave Drive and new junctions to ease access to and from the new homes.

Beardwood with Lammack Tory councillor Mike Lee said: “This is the wrong scheme in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“These houses are not wanted and not needed and hundreds of others with planning permission in the borough have yet to be built. The council’s estimates of housing needs and housing starts are too optimistic and over-ambitious.

“We should not be sacrificing green fields for its grandiose plans. There remain major concerns about traffic and I will oppose this scheme at every opportunity.”

Cllr Riley said: “We have responded to concerns about this scheme and its traffic implications.

“There has been significant interest from developers.

“Land to build these houses is required by the government in our local plan during which this area was taken out of the protected ‘Green Belt’.

“This masterplan is necessary before planning applications are submitted.

“This plan is about providing new homes for the modern Blackburn to attract people to come and live and work in the borough.

“The images in the plan are the sort of homes we would like to be built and reflect our aspirations for the borough and the semi-rural nature of the area. We hope to see work start by the end of the year with the first new homes built and for sale by 2019.”

Blackburn Rugby Club secretary David Scott said: “No final decision has yet been taken on whether we move from our current ground.”