A DEPUTY mayor who started building a conservatory without permission looks set to be told she will have to pull it down.

Planning officers at Blackburn with Darwen Council have urged the borough's planning and highways committee to reject Dorothy Walsh's application on the grounds that an extension to her home would block light out of a neighbour's garden. But the neighbours concerned have written to the committee, which meets on Thursday, to say they have no objections to the proposed extension.

Coun Walsh, a Higher Croft councillor, fell foul of planning regulations when builders began laying foundations for the conservatory at her Hereford Road, Whitebirk, home in August. Despite claiming she had been told she wouldn't need planning permission, Coun Walsh stopped work on the project and submitted a retrospective planning application.

Planning officers have now decided the conservatory would have a detrimental impact on her next-door neighbours, because it would be an extension on part of the house which has already been extended.

Coun Walsh, who has warned that she will take the council to a planning appeal if her application is refused, today declined to comment. If she did follow through on that threat, it would raise the possibility of her beginning her mayoral year next May at loggerheads with the council's planning department.

She has previously said she felt she was being victimised because she was a councillor.

All planning applications submitted to the council by councillors have to be decided by the committee rather than by planning officers.

Supporting her application, her neighbours Heather and Nigel Hook have stated in a letter: "Mrs Walsh invited us into her home where we were able to view the area that the conservatory would cover.

"We hope she is successful in her application because it won't affect our quality of life at all."

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "The recommendation is for refusal on the grounds that it would create an adverse impact on light to, outlook from and amenity of the adjoining property."