DEVELOPERS will have to stump up £1.5 million for extra primary school places in Darwen if plans for 168 new homes in the town are approved.

Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning and highways committee meets next week and will discuss the application by Persimmon Homes to build the development on land at Spring Meadows in Darwen.

Town planners have recommended the committee approves the application, subject to the agreement of section 106 contributions from Persimmon.

It is proposed the firm pays £150,000 each towards affordable housing and road improvements as well as the £1.5m education cash.

If the committee approves the application but a s106 agreement can not be made, the head of service for planning would have delegated powers to refuse the application.

The proposed development lies near the Kier Living 126-home development off Pole Lane.

Rachael Graham, Persimmon’s land and planning manager for Lancashire, said the development would consist of 14 two-bedroom homes, 97 three-bedroom homes and 57 homes of four or more bedrooms.

Developers say the new estate would bring in an estimated £2million in council tax revenue, while the residents of new homes are predicted to bring a total gross spending power in leisure and sport of £135,441 into the local economy.

In a report to go before the committee, borough principal planner Martin Kenny said: "The council, through an independent assessment by Edge Analytics, has identified future primary school provision requirements associated with the current proposal and other committed development in the locality.

"The outcome is that the developer is required to make a contribution of £1.5m towards additional primary school provision in the East Darwen locality.

"The proposal will deliver a high quality housing scheme which will widen the choice of family housing in the borough.

"It supports the borough’s planning strategy for housing growth as set out in the core strategy and local plan part two.

"The proposal is also satisfactory from a technical point of view, with all issues relative to the assessment having been addressed through the

application, or capable of being controlled or mitigated through planning conditions."

Ward councillors Kevin Connor, Neil Slater and Lilian Salton all expressed concerns about the increased number of houses from 134 at the outline stage to 168.

Further fears were also raised about the speed of traffic and number of vehicles using Pole Lane, with the suggestion of installing average speed cameras to mitigate the problem.