THE NEW owners of a building at the centre of an asylum seekers row today appealed for calm, after the controversial plans were finally laid to rest.

Windsmoor House School, an independent establishment which caters for children with learning difficulties, has bought the old Spring Bank Nursing Home, in Spring Lane, Blackburn and will use the building as an admin centre for its East Park Road headquarters.

Last week, plans from a rival company to turn the building into a centre for asylum seekers were rejected by Blackburn with Darwen Council on conservation grounds.

Two petitions with more than 1,200 names against the scheme were handed over as residents tried to thwart the proposals. The attitudes of some of the campaigners were described as "little short of bigotry" by councillors.

But residents said they were concerned about the sort of people who may be placed at the centre as there were many children who played out nearby.

Darren Allcock, managing director of the school, spoke out after it was revealed the building had been constantly vandalised while there was speculation it could be used to house refugees.

"I want to allay any fears for the protection of the children that it is nothing to do with asylum seekers," he said.

"All I am looking for is the safety of the children -- I don't want other people targeting it because they think asylum seekers will be there."

Derek Woods, of Blackburn-based Trevor Dawson, the company which arranged the sale of the property last Friday for Munroe and O'Connor Group, said the situation had spiralled out of control.

He claimed it had always been unlikely to become a centre for asylum seekers as the school was always the front-runner in the bid, ahead of Clearsprings Management, which submitted the asylum centre plan.

"We are relieved about the sale and glad that the asylum problems didn't put off the purchaser."