A COMPANY boss today reassured residents who are worried about a piece of land near their homes being turned into an industrial development.

People living in Healey Wood, Burnley, who celebrated a planning battle victory to stop industrial development near their homes, said they were now "horrified" to see earth-moving equipment on the site.

Only a few weeks ago residents in the Healey Wood and Cleveland Road areas welcomed the refusal of a planning application for the change of use of International House, Springhill Road, from business to industrial use.

The applicant, Steve Preston, owner of RS Plating, Burnley, had already withdrawn an application to move his electro-plating business following a storm of protest from residents who sent in over 270 letters of objection to the council.

Local resident Ruth Stinchon said: "It was detailed quite clearly in the response from the Lancashire County Council to the application that a detailed site investigation would have to be carried out to assess contaminants present in the landfill site next to the areas to prevent pollution of surface water."

She added: "Residents are also concerned about the effect all this earth-moving and vibration from the equipment will have on the foundations of their homes. Who is going to compensate us if our homes are damaged?"

Councillor Tony Lambert visited the site and said he had reported the residents' concerns to the planning department, who had told him no application had been made to move earth at the back of his premises."

Burnley MP Peter Pike, who also visited the site, said: "I don't yet know what the owner is doing with this land. He put in one application which he changed half way through and the amended application was refused permission.

"It may be that he plans to appeal against that decision but as far as I am concerned he has not yet done so. The residents understandly have fears about what is happening."

But Mr Preston said: "The work is to clear the drains out and to tidy up that area of land.

"Water pours out of that hillside and we get flooded with water and silt. After all, it is called Spring Hill Road. It needed a clean-up and it had to be done. It is nothing to do with the planning application. The drains were burst and it was coming out of the hillside like a river, with flood water going into the units.

"I clean the site up every three or four years and that is what I am doing now."

He added: "We cannot do any work in connection with my previous application because we had planning permission turned down. That was because of the residents' protest, there was no good planning reason for it to be turned down."

Mr Preston said he had not yet decided whether to appeal against the planning decision.