A GARAGE owner today vowed to fight on for permission to extend his business - even though it is on green belt land.
Noor Hussain, 43, of Altham MoT Centre, Livingstone Road, has applied four times and appealed once to get his expansion plans approved since 2001.
He says he has been frustrated by Hyndburn Council at every attempt and today insisted: "If I'd known it was in the green belt I wouldn't have bought it in 1999 in the first place."
He added: "I am in the process of contacting a solicitor and I will be taking this further. When I asked for a local search of the site before I bought it, the council did not say it was in green belt land.
"If I'd known this I wouldn't have bought it in the first place."
The council has a policy to refuse new buildings in the green belt unless they are for farming, forestry, outdoor sport and recreation or in very special circumstances.
In a recent planning appeal, it said Mr Hussain's plan would cause traffic problems due to increased on-street parking and be detrimental to the nearby residents of Livingstone Road.
This view was upheld by the Government's Planning Inspectorate, based in Bristol, which dismissed the appeal.
But Mr Hussain, who said the expansion would create two new jobs, said the site was big enough to handle any increase in cars without them spilling on to the road.
He said that when Accrington Stanley played home games, the road was full of cars anyway and he was planning to apply again, but with some changes.
"I am going to reduce the size of the extension to less than 50 per cent of the business now. They refused it before because it was an increase of 70 per cent and they said it was an overdevelopment."
Hyndburn Council refused to say whether or not it had told Mr Hussain the land was in green belt.
A spokesman said: "Information on a local search is gained from the Land Registry and the local authority planning department. Some information is given as a right and some is optional at an extra cost.
"While it would not be appropriate to comment publicly on any specific case we would, of course, look into any complaint that was raised with us.
"In general I can say that people can understandably feel frustrated when they are not successful in securing planning applications but we are always happy to review the circumstances of any decision that we make if it is appropriate to do so."
Hyndburn Council chief planning and transport officer Brent Clarkson said: "The site is located within the green belt and the proposal is an inappropriate development.
"On the question of parking of vehicles, the Inspector concluded that the 12 spaces shown within the site would be wholly inadequate and that extensive parking would be likely to take place outside the site which would be likely to inconvenience other users of Livingstone Road."
Council officials in other areas say it is standard practice for a local authority to pass on green belt details to potential developers.
A spokeswoman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "We have a standard form from a local search which gives information about whether it is in a green belt or not."
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