A HOUSING scheme to rescue the failed Crostons Road motor development looked set to get the thumbs-down last night (Thurs Sept 6).

Planning chiefs say the site is a crucial employment- generating area, and had recommending that councillors refuse permission.

Ford dealers Dixon Motors had spent months clearing the area for a £6.5 million showroom, with up to 100 new jobs being created.

But, as exclusively revealed by the Bury Times in June, the plan was dramatically scrapped. The firm blamed the collapse of the new and second-hand car sales market.

The company now wants planning permission for houses to help it claw back some of its "abnormal costs" in clearing the site. However, this would depart from the council's Unitary Development Plan (UDP), which outlines what can be built in the borough. Mr John Hodkinson, principal planning officer, recommended that members at last night's planning control committee turn down the application.

"The development would lead to the loss of employment land, a site which is prominently located on a main road approaching the town centre and specifically identified as an opportunity site," he says in his report.

"Crostons Road, together with the adjacent Bury Ground site, is one of only four strategic employment sites identified in the council's strategic investment action plan. It is the only part that is immediately available and the only one of the four sites available for uses other than retail or office close to the town centre.

"The council's economic development unit has recently received a number of enquiries for which this site would present the only development option within the borough boundary."

He adds: "The council has identified sufficient land to meet the borough's housing requirements to 2011, and is under no pressure to release further large areas of land, particularly strategic employment sites.

"Despite the arguments in favour of the development, there is no doubt that residential development would conflict with approved policies of the adopted UDP."