A specialist builder of sheltered estates for the elderly has threatened to pull out of a 36 bungalow development in a row over a legal agreement for road maintenance.

John Nixon attended Burnley Council's development control committee on Wednesday night as it debated his company's plan for the £3million scheme on the cleared site of the former Dexter Paints site on Gannow Lane close to the Leeds Liverpool Canal.

He told councillors that he had a 'passion' for constructing such estates for residents aged 55 and over and already had 207 applications for the bungalows.

Mr Nixon, boss of J and P Nixon Builders of Bilsborrow, said he preferred to keep the roads on his developments private so access to the public, including teenagers, was controlled.

He said this enabled his estates to be quiet and peaceful for his older clients rather than having them adopted by Lancashire County Council as public highways open to all.

Mr Nixon asked the committee to drop the Section 106 legal agreement over the future management and maintenance of the internal road layout.

A report by planning officer Elizabeth Hindle said: "This will ensure that they are management maintained to the correct standards for the future occupants."

She explained the legal agreement would ensure a management committee (which could levy a fee for communal roads and facilities from property owners) would be set up if Mr Nixon's company, which intends to rent the properties, decided to start selling off the individual bungalows piecemeal.

The committee voted to approve the scheme subject to the agreement being signed by Mr Nixon despite reservations from Coal Clough and Deerplay Liberal Democrat Cllr Gordon Birtwistle.

He said bungalow developments for 55 and overs were much needed and the company had a track record of building well finished and maintained estates in the borough, notably at Weaver’s Fold further up Gannow Lane.

After the vote Mr Nixon told the councillors: "It won't be built."

Following the meeting he said: "I will pull out of the development if they insist on the legal agreement. It is not necessary.

"I have built these developments on half a dozen sites in Burnley and they have never insisted on a Section 106 agreement.

"It can be done with a simple planning condition.

"If the council insists on the agreement I will not build the bungalows which will be a pity."

The proposed bungalows would be one-bedroomed, with a separate living room, kitchen, bathroom and dining/health care room.

All would have a car parking space and they are planned in three terraced groups around a central access road.