CONTROVERSIAL proposals for a massive luxury housing project to the south of the city were this week given the go-ahead by council planning chiefs.

The 'Whinney Carr Farm' development, which has sparked strong opposition from some residents and the Green Party, was granted outline permission by planners after a number of concerns were addressed by officers at a meeting of the council's planning committee this week.

Cllr Emily Heath who described the whole proposal as "totally inappropriate" attacked the scheme, which will see 535 houses built.

"We have not had enough detailed discussion on this at all," claimed Cllr Heath, "If we have to build on greenfield sites then we should be looking for something different to this... something that actually meets local housing needs.

"We need a 'flagship' development to show everybody that this is the kind of thing we want here."

Ms Heath's criticisms stemmed from the news that some of the new properties would range in price from £167,000 to £357,000.

"I doubt that very few in our district could afford this kind of price," she offered.

Her views however, which were echoed by Cllr Pat England among others, fell on deaf ears when Cllr Heath's suggestion that the matter be deferred to the planning policy committee, was rejected by members.

The overall scale has been reduced following observations from the Local Plan Inspector but it has now been formally accepted as a development site. Planners have insisted on a long list of conditions being met and it was argued that turning down the development now would mean the authority losing overall control of the project.

Cllr Roger Sherlock said: "We do not have an over-abundance of brownfield sites and, unfortunately, this type of thing is going to happen in Lancaster, but we cannot risk things like this going to appeal, where we might lose and where we don't stand any chance of getting half of the amendments we can secure by doing it this way."