PLANS for a Morrisons supermarket in Bacup are set to move a step closer next week when the council considers the planning application.

Members of Rossendale’s development control committee will meet on Tuesday.

They are expected to give the scheme for a store in Lee Street the green light.

Plans for the store, which would see the former Horace’s Nightclub bulldozed, were first unveiled in 2006 but have been struck by delays.

Some of the land was owned by the Co-operative, which had a contract preventing the land being turned into a supermarket.

However, a deal has now been agreed to lift that covenant.

Neil Birtles, principal planning officer, said: “The majority of the site is vacant and becoming increasingly derelict, particularly so in the case of the former Horace’s Nightclub and parts of Hargreaves Mill.

“The only areas within the application site that currently provide employment are the council workshop building and the Henrietta Street Industrial Estate.

"The tenants in the industrial units vary between lock-up storage and a tyre depot.

“There is no particular shortage in the form of accommodation they provide and the council’s property services manager will wish to work with the tenants in order to secure premises locally in which they can relocate.”

Five letters have been received by the council, four of which objected to the plans.

One town centre shopkeeper said it would affect independent traders in the town and risk putting some out of business.

An employee of one of the industrial units objected because they felt that location served their business well.

Two other objections questioned issues of the loss of parking and the impact on the town centre.

Bosses at Morrisons envisage that the store would employ 108 people, with 72 of them full-time.

It would have 151 car parking spaces and open between 7am and 11pm on Monday to Saturdays and 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

English Heritage had objected to the previous application on the basis that some of the buildings being demolished were in a conservation area.

However, its comments on the new application are yet to be received by Rossendale Council.