VILLAGERS in Guide have been left reeling with news that yet another development in their area is to be given the green light.

Blackburn with Darwen Council planning experts have advised councillors to approve a project to build 33 homes on land off Haslingden Road.

A residents campaign group in the village has already failed in a bid to stop a homes development near the Fishmoor reservoir and are awaiting the verdict of a government inspector on whether a large commercial development in the area should go ahead.

The land on which the 33 homes will be built is currently a field which slopes away from Haslingden Road.

Planning experts say the application for houses, which has been drawn up by Gleeson Homes, has passed four tests which they set down when they considered what advice they should give to councillors. These were whether the area should be used for homes at all, whether access arrangement and impact on the area's roads of more homes would be acceptable, whether the proposed layout of the homes meets council policies and what impact the new houses would have on existing residents in Guide.

Pat Kennedy, of the Guide campaign group said residents who live near the M65 already suffer with noise and pollution from traffic and are now being expected to bear even more.

She added: "It is not the principal of building homes on the site that we object too, it is the number that is being proposed.

"We have written to the council suggesting that a compromise of 20 new homes should be given the go ahead but we never heard anything back."

Members of Blackburn with Darwen Council's planning committee will consider the plan at a town hall meeting on Thursday.

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