PROPOSALS to turn the site of the historic former Hollins Mill into a major new housing development could be thrown out.

Developers Gleeson Homes had hoped to build more than 150 new homes on the site but planning officers at Blackburn with Darwen Council have recommended the application be refused.

The planning and highways committee is due to meet next week, when a decision will be taken on the application.

The site, in Hollins Grove Street, Darwen, which was formerly home to Hollins Mill before it was demolished in 2012, would have included 54 two bedroom houses, 89 three bedroom houses and eight four bedroom houses if approved by councillors.

It was estimated the redevelopment of the site would have cost about £20 million.

But principal planning officer Connor Perrott has suggested members should vote to turn down the application.

More than 100 jobs were lost at the site in 2012 after DS Smith Paper Ltd decided to concentrate at its other plants in Devon, Kent and Somerset.

The 19th century mill had manufactured paper since 1845, and was the only manufacturer of high-quality recycled presentation liners in the UK.

It also produced mottle, brown testliners and chip paper.

Gleeson Homes bosses say they focus solely on building low cost homes for people on low incomes in areas of industrial decline and social and economic deprivation.

The company builds a range of affordable homes for sale to people who would otherwise be unable to afford a new home, thereby helping them onto the property ladder.

Previously in use for paper manufacturing, the site has been redundant since 2012.

Since then, the site has largely been cleared of all buildings and structures, but for two temporary modular buildings and a chimney stack which remain in situ.

Gleeson had projected the new development would have boosted the council’s coffers by almost £200,000 in council tax payments.

And they had forecast that 120 rental properties in the area would have been vacated if the development went ahead.

The committee will meet at Blackburn town hall on Thursday next week from 6pm.