A RESIDENTS' group has been formed to fight for a nature reserve on council-owned land at Gib Hill.

At meeting in the Great Marsden Hotel the team was set up to team to lobby for land below Marsden Golf Course to be given special status.

Dr John Plackett, its appointed chairman, said: "Gib Hill is a valuable natural haven with abundant wildlife on publicly accessible land between Nelson and Colne. Its adoption as a nature reserve would be a valuable asset for now and for generations."

Last month, councillors promised the land separating Nelson and Colne would not be used for development - despite being earmarked for housing. Several people had turned up to a meeting of Pendle Council's executive in Nelson Town Hall to protest at the inclusion of Gib Hill as land for new housing development.

But councillors, who voted for a ban on housing in the area as too many properties had already been built, said the land was safe from development for the next 15 years.

Residents had been asked for their views on plans to develop Pendle over the next 15 years for the first draft of the Local Plan. In response, the council received 174 pages of objections to the section on locating new developments.

But despite having to decide on sites for new homes, the council has been told it can only erect another 12 between now and 2016.