CONTROVERSIAL plans for 15 new homes in a Rossendale village look set to be knocked back for a third time after almost 200 people objected.

Ken Howieson’s proposals for land off Burnley Road, Loveclough, have been recommended for refusal at a Rossendale Council planning meeting next week.

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Rossendale Civic Society and Limey Valley Residents’ Association (LVRA) were among 196 opponents of the scheme, which previously failed to gain approval in April and October last year.

Planning officers have told councillors that the scheme should be turned down because ‘it would result in the development of an unallocated greenfield site’.

A report said: “The applicant has not advanced the case to outweigh the harms arising from the proposal in terms of inappropriate development within the countryside and detriment to the essentially open and rural character of the area.”

LVRA objected to the scheme on the basis that it was ‘merely a superficial re-working of the applicant’s previous submissions’.

In its response, the group said: “The houses are out of character with the surroundings and do not enhance the area. The A682 is a very busy main road and the additional traffic will have both environmental and safety implications. The local primary school is already full and the sewerage system is already under pressure.”

In his planning application, Mr Howieson said the 15 detached family dwellings, all of which would have at least four bedrooms, would be constructed to ‘a much higher level of the code for sustainable homes’ than in the rest of Rossendale.

He said: “The council’s own allocation of sites recognises that there should be new housing development in Loveclough, but all of the sites within the development boundary have been developed and none outside it have been allocated for residential development.”

Mr Howieson added that the decision to allow 10 homes to be built beside Loveclough Working Men’s Club, also on the west of Burnley Road, had set a precedent for development in the area.

Lancashire County Council’s ecology and highways departments both raised concerns about the housing plan, while United Utilities and Rossendale Council’s environmental health chiefs had no issues.

In December, LVRA treasurer, Darryl Nugent, was given approval to create community allotments on land immediately to the west of Mr Howieson’s targeted site, near Loveclough Recreation Grounds.