THE boss of a firm behind plans to dump 700,000 tonnes of landfill on green belt land to create a golf course today reassured residents that his plans were genuine.

And William Richardson, boss of Blackburn Golf Developments, urged anyone doubting his firm's credentials to come and look at another one of their courses in Gravesend, Kent, also built using thousands of tonnes of builders' rubble to create the golf course.

Concern has been growing in the Pleasington, Feniscowles and Livesey areas of Blackburn ever since Blackburn Golf Developments, based in Hove, Sussex, lodged a planning application for the 28-acre site, off Brokenstones Road, Blackburn.

A petition has been launched and a public meeting has been arranged for September 2 at Feniscowles Primary School.

If planning permission is given, it would be the second time a golf developer has moved on to the Brokenstones site.

In 1998, planning permission was given for a firm called Griffin Bio to build a golf course. They did not, however, have planning permission to dump landfill on the site but dropped around 600,000 tonnes of rubbish, including tyres and material which has the potential to pollute near by streams and rivers.

Council bosses were successful in gaining an enforcement notice to make Griffin Bio remove the rubbish. They have until the end of the month to remove the dangerous rubbish.

But if Blackburn Golf Developments wins planning permission at the end of September, responsibility for clearing the dangerous waste will fall to them.

Mr Richardson said: "I am keen to reassure residents that we are a bona fide golf development firm.

"The only way we can create the golf course landscape is to use landfill and we believe there is demand for a golf course in Blackburn."