IT wasn't so much the bats in the belfry as the bats in a row of cottages which led a conservation group to oppose the creation of a new nursery on a Blackburn housing estate.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England pleaded with planners at Blackburn with Darwen Council to refuse plans for a nursery inside the Fernhurst Farm Cottages, on the Fernhurst estate at Ewood, Blackburn.

Darwen-based Les Enfants wanted to repair and alter the cottages to form a private children's and neighbourhood nursery daycare centre, with external works to include play areas, landscaping and parking provision. At a meeting of the planning and highways committee, Hayley Reed, planning officer for the Blackburn with Darwen district branch of the CPRE, said: "When we went to look at this site, we not only saw bats, but tawny and barn owls too.

"The danger is that if this site is redeveloped, we will lose the bat colony for good."

All bats and owls are protected species.

But Chris Livesey, planning officer at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "Our studies have shown that, while there is a chance bats could nest there, none are doing so at the moment. If the contractors find any colony, they are obliged by law to protect them."

The bats were not the only problems Les Enfants faced in securing planning permission for their project. Nine letters of objection were received from residents living on the new housing estate close to the cottages.

Most of the complaints concerned level of traffic that would be generated by the nursery, and objected to a cul-de-sac, Kendall Close, being used as the drop-off point for parents taking their youngsters there.

The plans were amended so that all access to the nursery would be via the main spine road which runs through the estate and were approved.