BURNLEY College is hoping to offer a day care facility for staff and students who want to bring their dogs to work.

Bosses at the Princess Way college have submitted a planning application to Burnley Council to erect a new building under railway arches to house its ‘doggy day care’ centre.

As well as wanting to offer a dog care service for staff and students, the facility would also offer practical, hands-on experience for those studying animal welfare at the college.

A college spokesman said: “The application is for the provision of a dog care facility that will operate during term days only, not nights or weekends.

“The facility will be for dogs belonging to college staff and students, and will be used as a benefit for staff and students, and also to educate students on animal welfare as part of the college’s training provision.”

Planning officers at Burnley Council have met college chiefs onsite before the application was submitted to provide planning advice, and the application is now out for consultation before a decision is made on whether to approve the scheme later this year.

One of the biggest issues around the application is that the facility could be built near to the railway viaduct, which has listed status, having been completed in 1848.

Jonathan Lund, facilities manager at Burnley College, said: “The college’s development will be under arches six and five, and has been designed so that it does not affect the structure of the viaduct in any way.

“The structures or fences forming the doggy day care facility will butt up to the piers in some areas.

“They will be self-supporting, though, and will not be fixed to the structure of the viaduct.

“The size and scale of the development for the doggy day care facility is small in comparison to the listed viaduct and from a distance is difficult to see.

“When seen from within the college grounds, it blends into the background and is partly obscured by parked cars.

“From outside the college grounds, the facility is not visible and does not impact on the aesthetics of the listed viaduct.”

If the plans are approved, the facility is likely to create one full-time job.