CONTROVERSIAL plans to build 101 homes on the site of former railway sidings are set to get the green light this week, despite objections from residents.

Councillors are recommended to grant planning permission for the development on land off Knotts Lane, Colne, on Thursday.

Campaigners sent 39 letters of objection to Pendle Council outlining more than 60 concerns, including loss of greenfield land, traffic problems and loss of wildlife such as kestrels, tawny owls and bats.

A report by planning officer Janet Filbin to the council's Colne area committee, which will decide the application, says: "There is no reason why, in principle, housing development should not be permitted on this site." As part of planning permission, the developer Beazer Homes would have to sign an agreement to build a children's play area and pay for play equipment, and pay £9,625 for improvements to the nearby Pendle Cycleway cycle path between Wackersall Bridge and Fisher-More High School.

Education bosses said there are enough places at local schools to handle the influx of youngsters the new homes would bring and studies of the area's drainage and sewer networks found they can cope with demand from the new homes, the report says.

The houses would be a mixture of mainly two and three-storey homes. The site was used as railway sidings when Colne's railway station stretched much further than the single platform and shelter it is now. The sidings were removed in the late 1960s and, since then, the land has reverted back to nature.