PROPOSALS to build two new homes in a terraced street in Darwen have been approved at the second attempt.

In April planning officers turned down the scheme to build two semi-detached three-storey homes on land between two blocks of houses in Harwood Street occupied by an unused garage.

But after the submission of a new application by Darwen and Devine they approved the revised plan.

The application had been originally refused after Blackburn with Darwen Council officers deemed the proposed properties were not in keeping with other houses in the street, concerns about privacy and a lack of off-street parking.

A letter with the application from Nazia Shah of Urban Future Planning Consultancy Ltd told planners: "The site comprises underutilised brownfield land within an established residential area.

"The applicant is in ownership of 6A Harwood Street and confirms the garage and associated land is surplus to requirement and seeks to put it to effective use and considers an additional two dwellings, to be delivered imminently, as the most appropriate form of development.

"The application is a re-submission of a recently refused application

"The scheme has been revised in response to some concerns raised."

A design and access statement said: "The applicant seeks to put to effective use an underutilised brownfield plot within an established residential area for much needed residential development, providing two modern, family homes.

"Given the site’s readily accessible nature and the presence of much on-street parking capacity, the scheme now comprises a ‘car free development’.

"An additional two units in a readily accessible location where shops, education provision and local services can be accessed on foot, would not significantly harm the function of the highway network to an extent that would warrant the refusal of the application.

"The parking space at 6A has never been utilised and as such, its loss would have a negligible impact.

"Allowing the scheme would be in line with the government’s aspirations to move towards less reliance on the use of private vehicles."