OPPONENTS of the redevelopment of an old bus depot as luxury apartments in Clitheroe have another chance to fight the plans.

A new developer has stepped in to take over the project to build 24 apartments on the site of the old Lancashire United bus depot -- previously owned by Stagecoach and before that, Ribble Buses -- in Pimlico Road.

And the company has submitted a new planning application, giving residents the chance to object.

Rowland Homes, based in Leyland, has taken over the site from Broughton Hall company Candlemakers Croft Ltd, which won planning permission for its scheme last year.

Clitheroe Town Council had claimed the development would cause road safety problems.

A spokesman for Rowland Homes said: "The reason we have put a fresh planning application in is that while we intend to use the same materials, and building footprint, we intend to change the inside layout and some of the designs outside."

The site has been the subject of several planning rows since Lancashire United decided it no longer needed a depot in the Ribble Valley's main town.

It closed the depot in March 2002 and blamed a mixture of economic problems and the poor structural condition of the building -- constructed in 1930 and subsequently surrounded by housing estates -- for its decision.

Most staff transferred to the company's depots in Blackburn and Burnley, where Lancashire United's sister company, Burnley and Pendle Travel, is based.

The first company to apply for a residential development on the site, Barrow-based Merewood Homes, was refused on the grounds that there weren't enough school places for the development to go ahead, paving the way for the first plans for apartments to be put through.