WILDLIFE groups have slammed plans to build on one of Burnley's ‘most important’ amphibian sites.

Metro Metals submitted proposals to Burnley Council to build four industrial units on land in Widow Hill Road.

If approved the application would also see a car park suitable for 54 cars, bicycles, goods vehicles and motorbikes created.

In a planning document a Burnley Wildlife Conservation Forum spokesman said the group objected to the plans because of the site's importance to wildlife.

He said: “It supports five amphibian species, the frog, toad, smooth newt, palate newt and great crested newt.

“It is one of the borough’s most important sites because it contains the borough’s only significant population of great crested newts and a wide range of dragonflies and damselflies including the emerald damselfly, which is very rare in East Lancashire.

“The proposed landscaping scheme shows newt exclusion fencing to be installed along all the boundaries between the development and proposed landscaping.

“Newt exclusion fencing, even when regularly inspected and maintain in good condition, is often less than 100 per cent effective because newts and other amphibians especially small juveniles can easily flatten themselves to crawl under the smallest gaps.”

A previous planning application in October 2015 for the units to support the high-tech aircraft industry was refused.

In a document to the council a Lancashire Wildlife Trust spokesman said: “The planning application does not take account of potential impacts on the network, discuss the conservation of the components or identify opportunities for restoration and enhancement of the ecological network.

“If approved as it stands, the application would be an example of unsustainable development and should be refused.”

In a letter to the council a spokesman on behalf of the applicant said: “The site being made sustainable, built to a high thermal efficiency standard, creating employment prospects and supporting the very reason of the development order, make it a very feasible project.”

A decision will be made at the council’s development control meeting on Wednesday, May 31, at the Burnley Town Hall in Manchester Road, from 6.30pm.

Council officers have recommended the application is refused by members of the committee.