PROPOSALS to turn second-floor offices, above a restaurant in Wensley Fold, Blackburn, into living accommodation have been given the green light by councillors, despite concerns about access to the yard below.

Planning officials recommended that the move by owner C M Yaseen to create the flat should be turned down because of insufficient outside space for bins, and recreation.

They said what little there was in the back yard of the restaurant, in Johnston Street, was too difficult to access from the proposed second-floor flat, with two bedrooms, at the former public house.

Ward councillors Kate Hollern, Dave Harling and Mohammed Khan asked the borough planning and highways committee to look at the application.

It decided that, despite the objections, the proposed flat brought an empty part of a terraced building back into use, and was similar to many other flats in the borough.