COUNCILLORS warned redeveloping land for up to 60 homes could be a lengthy process despite outline planning permission being granted.

Blackburn with Darwen Councils hopes to sell off the land at Clarendon Road East in Little Harwood to developers to bring forward a detailed plan to redevelop the site.

But part of it is in unknown ownership and so the council will have to go through the compulsory purchase order process before any development can progress.

Borough growth and development boss, Cllr Phil Riley, told a planning and highways committee meeting it could be years before meaningful progress was made.The application site is primarily owned by Blackburn with Darwen Council with a small corner of the site being in unknown ownership.

Now permission is granted, the intention is for the council to dispose of the land to a developer under an informal tender at the end of the CPO process.

Cllr Riley said: "It's an outline application for the whole site.

"Before the council can start the CPO process, there has to be some action in terms of intent to develop the site.

"This is the start of a process that will take a serious while.

"We have got a growth agenda in the borough and this is a piece of land that has been empty for a while.

"From our perspective as a council, we have targets to meet and this is a site we can develop."

The site currently comprises of open fields separated by trees and shrubs.

Nine letters of objection to the proposals were received by council bosses.

They focused on concerns including speeding traffic, congestion on the roads and impact on infrastructure such as doctor’s surgeries and schools, as well as the loss of green space and impact on wildlife.

Julie Walsh, who lives on Clarendon Road East, said: “The development would cause a total feeling of overcrowding and too much congestion on the road.

“The likelihood of accidents will increase.

“There are quite a few families with small children who will fear to leave their front gates.

“The cars speed up and down the road presently but with 60 more houses in the area this would be unbearable.

“The facilities in the area are limited as it is so the thought of 60 more families trying to access them doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Fellow Clarendon Road East resident June Bennison added: “There are problems with traffic speeding up and down this road, and congestion in the mornings with the amount of traffic using it.

“We already have problems getting doctors appointments, so another 200 plus people is going to cause real problems.

“Where are the children going to go to school when the local schools are already at bursting point?

“This is the only piece of green land we still have, what about the wild life, there have been roe deer on the land recently, plus rabbits and nesting birds.

“I think we have had enough houses built in Little Harwood over the past few years – we are being smothered.”