RESIDENTS were claiming victory today after plans for Blackburn's first asylum centre were kicked out.

But they were left furious after a leading councillor said the campaign to stop the complex was ' a little short of bigotry'.

Blackburn with Darwen's planning committee said the scheme for the old Witton Bank Nursing Home, in Spring Lane, could not go-ahead on the grounds that the plans were not detailed enough and could lead to the deterioration of the building, described as being 'prominent' in the Griffin Park conservation area.

Two petitions had been submitted to the committee, one of which had 1,200 signatures on it and was ruled to be inadmissible by councillors because there was no description of what the petition was at the top of every page.

Leading protester Val Knight, who lives near Witton Bank, told the committee that residents were not just concerned about it becoming an asylum seeker centre but the potential for it to be used at whim for other hostel uses, such as for ex-criminals or drug users.

She said: "There is a park near by where our children play. Can we be sure they are going to be safe in the future?

"No matter what use it is put to, we have no idea what sort of people will be placed in there and there will be control over it. It will ruin our community."

Coun Andy Kay, head of regeneration at the council, said: "I cannot stand the presumptions being made about the people who might live here. These presumptions have been used to whip up fear and start alleged petitions, giving people false hope there is something which could be done to stop it when they were not legitimate planning reasons for refusal.

"As a councillor, I support the efforts to help people who are seeking refuge from their homes and deplore the scaremongering which has been going on here.

"Some of the attitudes, and the way people have no faith in what is being done, is little short of bigotry and rumour mongering which is a detriment to that community."

But Coun Paul Browne, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "To ignore the concerns of the residents like this is a disgrace. To say their concerns don't count is showing contempt to the voters who put us in office.

"They had a fair argument, 1,200 of them signed a petition and I still cannot believe the council rejected it the way they did.

"I hope the residents see this as a victory because they have won the day despite the arrogance of the Labour group."

Planning chairman Frank Connor added: "People have used asylum to whip a storm here and I am appalled. Refusal on legitimate planning grounds is all we can do.

"This is not a political platform, this is a planning meeting."

After the meeting, Mrs Knight said: "We are not bigots. The council may not care about our concerns, but how would they feel knowing up to 30 men who we know nothing about living so close to our community and a park?"

When details of the planning application were first made public nearly two months ago, the council assured residents it could not be used as an asylum seeker centre because there were already 700 asylum seekers in the borough.

Almost immediately, the developer The O'Connor Munro Group confirmed the site would be used to house asylum seekers.

Police in Blackburn also investigated after a BNP leaflet was distributed to residents before the council admitted the home could be turned into an asylum seeker centre.