CONTROVERSIAL plans for a storage yard residents claim would be a blight on their homes lay in the hands of planning inspectors.

Hyndburn Council’s planning committee has twice turned down proposals by Eagle Plant to use land at the back of Kirkham’s Garage in Oswaldtwistle.

And now Eagle Plant has lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate in a last ditch bid to get permission for the scheme.

Residents of nearby Buttermere Drive complained stacking storage containers would mean the development was a visual blight, while there were also fears expressed about the noise the development would generate.

People living on the estate, which overlooks the site, objected to the original plan, claiming it would affect their quality of life as well as impacting the value and saleability of their homes.

At the last meeting in December, committee members heeded their calls, narrowly voting through a proposal to reject the application by seven votes to five with one abstention.

Members decided the proposed development would have an unacceptable impact on the visual amenity of neighbouring homes.

Eagle Plant said the site layout had been completely revised, in order to address the impact of both visual and noise amenity.

But members heard the proposed operational hours on site had been extended to 8am to 6pm Monday-Friday, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and 9am to 1pm on Sundays and bank holidays.

And they expressed concerns the developers had not done enough to mitigate concerns raised the last time the proposal was rejected.

Anthony McLaughlin, who lives near the proposed development, said: "How can anyone state the site has been completely revised in order to address the impact?

"There will be the same visual impact - we can still see the site and contents from our homes - right on our doorsteps.

"Machine and vehicle movement noise will be exactly the same - you cannot turn the volume down on movement, vehicles and equipment.

"The residents of Buttermere Drive would not get any respite. This is not an industrial area."

Written representations will be submitted by interested parties by a deadline of March 27, with a final decision on the appeal due after that date.