PLANNERS have slammed the door on speculative house-building in Ribble Valley after a scheme to build 33 executive apartments was turned down.

Members of Ribble Valley planning and development committee heard Merewood Homes, of Natland, near Kendal, wanted to build the apartments at the site of the former Barker's Primrose Nursery, in Clitheroe.

But planning officers recommended refusal on the grounds that the Ribble Valley was swamped with plush homes -- and needed more affordable housing.

Councillors heard Merewood Homes wanted to build the apartments in three blocks featuring balconies, basement garages and landscaped areas.

Local residents, concerned the site might be used for social housing, wrote 18 letters in support of the scheme, claiming people who could not afford to live in Clitheroe should live elsewhere.

But senior planning officer Mike Kirby told the meeting that Ribble Valley was now expected to reduce the number of houses it was building to aid the regeneration of brownfield sites elsewhere.

He said: "We are going to be extremely limited in the number of houses we can build in the future, and we are under pressure from the Government to provide development that meets the needs of local people.

"I'm not convinced this scheme meets the needs of the borough, and approval will make it more difficult to refuse other schemes of this nature."

Coun Stephen Sutcliffe said: "Our children can't afford to live locally and we have to do something about it. We are being asked to consider something for which there is not a demonstrable need."

Coun John Hill added: "The legacy of the past has caught up with us and, if we carry on approving application after application, we could even lose the power to make our own planning decisions. I have every sympathy with the residents, but our hands are tied."

Ribble Valley was told by the Government to build 2,400 new houses between 1991 and 2006, but 2,912 houses have already been built, with a further 866 already having planning permission, a potential over-supply of 57 per cent.

The borough's higher-than-average house prices are forcing many young people to live in other areas.

Barker's Primrose Nursery closed its doors in January after almost 100 years of trading following the retirement of proprietors Bill and Barbara Barker.

The site was sold for development after a buyer for the nursery and garden centre as an on-going concern could not be found.

Councillors in Ribble Valley have repeatedly called for action after spiralling house prices started putting properties in the area beyond the reach of local young people.

Clitheroe Community Church has also expressed concern about "hidden homelessness" in the area after it was revealed young people were sleeping on their friends' sofas because they could not afford to buy, or rent, their own homes.

A spokesman at Merewood Homes said the company was recently taken over by Persimmon Homes and was no longer involved with the Barker's site.

She said the application had been submitted on behalf of a private developer before the acquisition and declined to comment further.