PROPOSALS have been revealed for 130 new homes in Briercliffe.

Countryside Homes has submitted a planning application to Burnley Council proposing to develop land at Standen Hall Drive in the borough.

The firm claims the development would will deliver significant and far reaching benefits for the site and the borough.

According to Countryside, the proposed development will deliver aspirational family homes to attract working-age skilled people to the area, sustaining local labour supply.

And 10 per cent of dwellings will be affordable and will meet the need for high quality accommodation in the borough.

An assessment completed by Lancashire County Council’s education department details how latest projections for the local primary schools show there to be a shortfall of 90 places in 5 years' time.

The county council will be asking Countryside to provide financial contributions to fund an extra 35 primary school places in the area if plans are approved.

A planning statement submitted as part of the application reads: "In the wider context, the proposed development will make a valuable contribution towards the council’s five-year housing land supply and will support the Government’s objective to significantly boost the supply of housing nationally.

"In line with the council’s strategic vision, the delivery of high-quality family housing is also a benefit that should be given significant weight in the determination of the application."

A number of heritage assets have been identified in or close to the proposed development site which will be impacted, although in the majority of cases identified the impacts are considered minor or negligible.

County council archaeology planning officer Peter McCrone said if permission is granted, exploratory work would have to be carried out to identify remains from previous settlements.

He said: "There is an identified area where there may be buried features relating to the site of Higher Saxifield Farm, which appears from the documentary evidence to have been established in the early 17th Century, probably as part of the formal enclosure of the open common lands associated with the settlement of Burnley and its surrounding farming hamlets.

"There is also the potential for as-yet unidentified buried remains and the survey of the site, which is able to distinguish minor variations in ground levels, shows a number of small features which appear to be more square or rectangular than would be expected from natural features although at this stage it is not possible to determine the cause of these slight features.

"I would recommend therefore that some intrusive fieldwork is needed on the site to identify the nature, extent, survival and date of the features identified.

"It is always preferred that investigations of such features take place at an early stage in development in order to minimise the risk of delays."