CAMPAIGNERS have accused an East Lancashire local authority of building new homes ‘for wealthy Manchester and Bolton people’.

The allegation was levelled by Dr Joe Gazdula as the controversy over the building of 343 homes on Bailey’s Field off Ellison Fold Way spilled over into Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Board meeting on Thursday.

The Darwen resident and his son Elliott tackled borough regeneration boss on the issue at public question time.

Dr Gazdula raised changes to the council’s local plan.

He asked Cllr Phil Riley: “Why was the greenbelt re-designated to include a large area of greenbelt to 200 metres from Roman Road in 1996 when the demand for houses from people in Blackburn and Darwen was clearly not there in 1996 and according to Cllr Riley seemingly not here now as he seems to want these to be built for wealthy Manchester and Bolton People?”

Cllr Riley replied: “The boundaries of planning designations in the borough changed when a Local Plan for Blackburn with Darwen was adopted in 2002. Evidence at the time showed that the newly-defined Baileys Field site should be safeguarded to provide for the future housing growth of the town.

“The subsequent Local Plan, adopted in 2015, then formally allocated the site for housing development to meet the borough’s evidenced housing needs by 2026.

“To clear up a misunderstanding – while some of the new housing in East Darwen has been bought by people moving in from other towns, the vast majority, as you would expect, has been bought by Darwen residents who want to take the opportunity to move into new housing but stay in their home town.”

Dr Gazdula’s son Elliott then asked: “Under the 2021 borough-wide consultation for the Local Plan, just 950 residents responded. This is less than one per cent of the borough’s population. In comparison to this, there are 910 signatures on the protect Bailey’s Field petition. Does this not suggest there are serious failings in the local authority’s own consultation process?”

Cllr Riley said: “The recent consultation on a draft new Local Plan for Blackburn with Darwen generated more responses than this council has ever received to a Local Plan consultation

“With regards to the petition in relation to Baileys Field, the current breakdown of 730 signatures is as follows: Darwen 238; the rest of the borough 140; and elsewhere (including Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Canada, the USA and Australia) 352.”