TRAVELLERS in Lower Darwen have been accused of exploiting a loophole in planning regulations.

Angry residents packed into Trinity Church Lower Darwen, in Sandy Lane, to again voice opposition to proposals for a travellers’ site on the former Lawnmower Specialists site on the same road.

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The meeting, on Thursday night, heard that John Loveridge had sought planning permission to change the use of the plot, and erect one static caravan, three touring caravans and an amenity building.

Mr Loveridge later withdrew his application, before moving caravans onto the site and reapplying for planning permission – a move Cllr John Slater said was “very shady”.

He said: “If he put his caravans there while he had a planning application in, he would have been evicted. By withdrawing and then putting caravans on and then reapplying he can leave them on there until the planning process is complete.”

“We have to remember we are still fighting this and still objecting, and we are doing our damnedest to make sure this application does not go through.

“What Mr Loveridge has done is very shady and I think the planning officers will take a dim view of it. Council officers are not stupid and we will be pointing that out.”

Cllr Slater said complaints had already been levelled at the travellers on the site, and said that, because a new planning application had been lodged, previous objections would have to be resubmitted.

Darwen’s Conservative MP Jake Berryalso spoke at the meeting, and called on residents to voice their anger in letters to the council.

He said: “The first part of this is getting as many objection letters as possible. If we don’t do this, the planning application may well go through.

“What we want as a community is for it to stay the same. Having been to lots of planning meetings, There’s nothing more powerful than councillors looking at a sea of faces the night a planning decision is dealt with.”

The meeting heard that Mr Loveridge had been cleaning the site up, which he recently bought.

But one resident said: “It’s not just cleaning the land up, he’s put up a £3,000 fence too. He does not fork that money out for nothing.”

Another said the process was “seeming to take forever”.

He said: “This is what grinds people down. People like this guy are prepared to wait for a long time until we have been ground down.”

Cllr Slater said he hoped the plans would go before a committee for a decision in March.

He said the meeting would likely be held at 6.30pm on a Thursday, and said if the proposals were refused, he would be looking for Mr Loveridge to remove the caravans from the site the following day.