A GARDEN centre could be bulldozed to make way for an apartment block -- if plans get the green light.

Beardwood Garden Centre, in Preston New Road, will be demolished to make way for the excutive flats if the plans get the go-ahead.

The application to sell the land to developers to build nine apartments has been submitted to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council by garden centre owners John and Kate Hewitson.

The couple, who have run the centre for the past four years, say they are keen to sell up and retire, but have been unable to persuade anyone to buy the land as a going concern.

The news that the land could be for housing follows the announcement that the County Hotel would be pulled down if a major housebuilder's plans get the go-ahead.

The hotel, a popular overnight spot for visiting footballers, faces demolition as Fairclough Homes bids to build 59 new homes on the six-acre semi-rural site.

John Hewitson said: "The garden centre has been up for sale for a while, but we can't get anyone to buy it as it is, so we have had to consider other options.

"This site is our retirement, so we need to do something with it.

"The architects we have approached to do the designs are very environmentally conscious and the plans they have come up with fit in very well with the area.

"In fact, they enhance the surrounding area.

"There's really no need for people living in the area to be concerned, it's not like this will be a high-rise block of flats with lots of traffic.

"I fact, there will be less traffic than at the moment and certainly no heavy goods vehicles."

Mr Hewitson stressed that the plans were in a very early stage and had yet to be considered by the council's planning committee, even before the land was put up for sale.

Some neighbours said they opposed the plans.

One couple living opposite the centre, who asked not to be named, said: "We don't agree with this at all. It should be kept as it is not turned into housing. There is enough development as it is."

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "We have received a planning application which will be considered at a future meeting."