A WHITEFIELD shop owner has vowed to fight against plans to demolish his premises which he claims will put him out of business.

And he has condemned proposals to turn the town into a "housing estate".

Mr Rocco Fulchini, who owns Roma Delicatessen and Cafe with his brother-in-law Giuseppe Taurasi, could stand to lose his business if nearby land is developed for apartments.

He told the Bury Times: "They have got no chance of knocking me down. I will fight to stay."

As reported in last week's BT, private developers Crosby Homes have won "in principle" favour from Bury Council to transform the Brand Centre site, bus station and Elms Street car park.

The scheme would include ground floor shops, including a food store, on land fronting Bury New Road and Stanley Road, meaning Roma's and the Church pub would be demolished.

Above the shops would be four or five storeys of apartments and the Brand Centre site would feature more traditional housing.

It was thought an alternative scheme proposed by Dransfield Properties to build a 75,000 square foot supermarket would not be sympathetic to the "district centre" designation of this area of Whitefield, as identified in the Unitary Development Plan.

Mr Fulchini said: "The council have made this decision without considering or consulting the people of Whitefield. It is like we are nothing to them. They have already made up their minds what they want to do."

Mr Fulchini (53) said he had been working with Dransfield for the past three years on their proposals and had been offered alternative premises within the development.

He said their proposals for a large supermarket, believed to be Morrisons, would have been an ideal choice for the site.

He said: "We want shops of attraction here and a supermarket would have attracted customers. Small shops won't attract people and flats are being built everywhere. The Council have killed Whitefield town centre with the amount of flats they have allowed to be built. They are turning it into a housing estate."

Mr Fulchini said trade had suffered since Stand College was demolished and the Brand Centre closed last year.

He said: "I have 16 people working here and I have to pay their wages. The people at Bury Council have no idea about my situation."

The shop owner said he was not alone in his ideas and hopes to gather the support of other businesses by arranging a meeting to discuss the situation.

Landlord of the Church pub, Mr Keith Wattleworth, said he would welcome any new development that would bring extra trade but said he favoured the supermarket proposals.

Mr Wattleworth, who has lived in Whitefield for 30 years but worked at the pub for eight weeks, said: "That way nothing much would change. What I would not welcome is if they wanted to pull down the pub, but that would be between the developers and the landowners, Joseph Holts."

Commenting on last week's announcement, Coun Wayne Campbell, executive member for resource, said: "We felt that the mixed-use scheme to include a food store better serves the needs of local people and its scale and design should provide a focal point and identity as a town centre."

A council spokesman added: "This is very much an idea in principle. No application has been put forward. At the end of the day any planning application would have to be dealt with after members of the public have had chance to comment on it."