Poultry plant plans refused

The scheme on land off Gladstone Street in Blackburn was knocked back by members of the council's planning and highways committee after a report said it would be a "potentially bad neighbour."

The application was made by Mr MS Karbari, of Clarence Street, Blackburn.

Planning chiefs said the slaughter house, which was intended to supply local restaurants and businesses, would affect the nearby homes on Gladstone Street.

The report said: "Due to the possible noise and odours emitted from the site and the generally undesirable nature of the business it is not considered suitable. In this particular case there is a terrace row of 11 properties directly opposite and at close proximity to the site."

The report also said there was already a nearby industrial premises and that it was necessary to protect the houses from "further detrimental impacts".

Councillor Peter Greenwood said: "If they want to provide this sort of purpose built factory on an industrial estate way out of town, fine. But to introduce that goes against everything we are doing in cleaning up the town."

Describing the processing as "disembowelling" and "beheading" chickens, he said: "It's not a typical industrial premises and should be refused." But Councillor Michael Johnson called on the planning committee to accept the application against the officers recommendation. He said the land had been derelict for more than 10 years and had been used for tipping rubbish on.

Coun Johnson said: "Peter was very emotive, in his usual manner. This happens in Tesco every day. This is quite clearly an industrial area where some people have been left out of the clearance area. To an extent they have been let down by the council."

But he said the plant would be purpose built and planning conditions could be imposed to ensure there are no smells or other problems for nearby residents.

However, the committee voted to accept the planning officers' report and refused the application.