The remodelling of a Blackburn home has been approved by councillors despite the next-door neighbour telling them it was 'overwhelming, oppressive and overbearing'.

Ahmad Musa was one of two nearby residents to attend Blackburn with Darwen Council planning committee to object in person to the extensions to the house in a Beardwood cul-de-sac.

Adnan Patel had applied for planning permission for the changes to his two-storey detached home in Ryburn Avenue.

He can now add a double-storey side extension, single-storey rear extension, first-floor balcony and front porch, after the committee voted to approve the scheme with seven conditions, including fitting privacy screens to the balcony.

How the house currently looksHow the house currently looks

The approved application was an amended resubmission of a previously withdrawn scheme.

His proposal generated seven objections from nearby residents.

The scheme was debated by the committee on Thursday night at the request of Billinge and Beardwood councillors Jackie Floyd and Tasleem Fazal.

The proposal will increase the number of bedrooms in the house from four to five.

The neighbours' objections include the proposal's excessive size; loss of privacy (particularly from the rear balcony); loss of light and outlook; its change to the character of the street scene; a terracing effect and overdevelopment.

Mr Musa and Barry Roberts, of Beardwood Brow, which backs onto the property's rear garden, attended the meeting in person to object to the application and ask councillors to reject it.

Mr Musa said: "The applicant is hell-bent on building on top of his building.

"The extensions will be overwhelming, oppressive and overbearing. They will feel like an invasion of privacy and cause pain and misery for my family."

Mr Roberts said his house was at the rear of the house and the proposed balcony directly overlooked two of his back bedrooms, and said the screening does not afford protection to his property and garden.

He added he could see little point in the balcony unless the owner was 'intent on looking into my garden and living rooms'.

Mr Patel's agent Samantha Townsend told the meeting the amended application met all the council's planning regulations.

She said: "There will be no overlooking or loss of privacy for other properties.

"It is a high-quality development which respects the design of the original house."

Moving approval, council regeneration boss Cllr Quesir Mahmood said: "I don't see any really big worries with this planning application.

"Every house in the street is very different and very individual."