A 15-YEAR battle over plans to build homes on land off Knotts Drive, Colne, has ended with approval for the scheme.

Plans from Persimmon Homes to build 182 houses were passed at Colne & District committee after chairman Graham Waugh, a Conservative councillor, got the casting vote.

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A scheme to build housing on the site was refused on appeal 15 years ago and again in 2012. This time the decision was tied at four votes before Cllr Waugh made the ruling.

Liberal Democrats voted against the plans, as did Conservative Neil Butterworth. Cllr Paul White proposed the motion to pass the application, seconded by his colleague Cllr Sarah Cockburn-Price.

Cllr White said the community was much happier with the plans, with only 12 objections received to this application. He said with good links to the M65, the scheme would not affect traffic on the North Valley Road.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Tony Greaves said: “I opposed the proposals on grounds of the scale and design of the proposals. I also raised questions relating to the maintenance and control of the landscaped areas, the proposed flood-alleviation ponds alongside the railway line, and the phasing of the development.”

Fellow Liberal Democrat Cllr Dorothy Lord also objected and said she was disappointed Conservatives had opposed greenfield plans in the east of the town, in areas they represent, but had not objected to schemes on the south side of Colne.

Neighbours in Knotts Lane fought since 1999 over the possibility of housing on the leafier outskirts of the town. The prospect of designating the mainly greenfield Knotts Lane area has always been contentious.

An initial application, for 201 homes, was lodged by Beazer Homes, which became Persimmon Homes in June 2000, and it was dubbed a blot on the landscape. Pressure group Get Knotted worried about wildlife.