VILLAGERS in Mellor Brook have vowed to renew their fight against plans to build a petrol station and convenience store on the site of a derelict pub – which have already been rejected three times.

Residents hoped they had finally seen the back of the controversial proposal for the former Windmill Hotel, in Preston New Road, when it was thrown out by South Ribble Borough Council last March.

Councillors ruled plans by Spar retailer James Hall and Co would have "increased disturbance” and had a “detrimental impact” on those living nearby, echoing a 2018 decision, later confirmed on appeal.

Now the firm has now lodged a last-minute appeal against the March refusal.

Resident Ann Wainwright said locals were gearing up their efforts to drive the petrol station plans out of the village once and for all.

She added: "We’re going to battle like they’re going to battle. We are disappointed but from [James Hall and Co’s] point of view, it’s the last throw of the dice for them – they have no doubt put so much money in and tried so hard to get permission.

"But the roads are busy enough – [this would cause] a six-fold traffic increase on Branch Road.

“And where else would you find 22 homes literally facing onto a petrol station? Look at any petrol station in Lancashire and you might get eight properties surrounding it, not 22.

“There are six homes that are going to have headlights in their bedroom and living room windows every time a car leaves these premises – so they’re going to have no peace whatsoever."

The planning committee’s most recent refusal was based, in part, on concerns about “increased activity, both within the site and [on] the highway”.

But Lancashire County Council – the authority responsible for most of the region’s roads – has not objected to the plans in any of the forms in which they have been presented.

During the March meeting, David Wallbank – a transport and highways consultant for James Hall and Co. – stressed that the suggested six-fold explosion in traffic did not mean that there would be six times as many vehicles using the surrounding roads.

“The majority of these [customers] will be passing the site along Branch Road or Preston New Road in any event,” he said.

James Hall and Co. declined to comment on the appeal.