RESIDENTS are on the warpath after plans were unveiled for a housing development in the centre of their village.

Residents of Mellor Brook have said enough is enough after Blackburn developer Leehand Properties submitted plans to build 11 flats and a house on land off Victoria Terrace.

Nearly 40 houses have already been built in the village in two separate developments this year.

And now Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans has joined the residents in their campaign to fight the new scheme.

He has been setting up taskforces to stave off development in countryside areas in his constituency.

He is fighting developments in the villages of Whittingham, Goosnargh and Grimsargh near Preston in his Ribble Valley constituency.

And he has called on Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to visit the Ribble Valley borough to see for himself how the countryside is being gobbled up.

Thousands of new homes have been built in the Ribble Valley over the past few years, with developments in Barrow so big that the village doubled in size.

Hundreds of houses have been built at the former Brockhall Hospital site and hundreds more are planned for Calderstones, Whalley.

Now Mellor Brook is facing a further 12 properties on top of the extra 40 in the village so far this year.

Mr Evans said: "Mellor Brook is a small village and every resident is opposed to this new scheme.

"A modest development is one thing, but the scheme will eat into green fields.

"If it gets the go-ahead, there will have been a 25 per cent increase in the number of houses in the village this year. "People are sick and fed-up of losing their green fields to developers and action must be taken to save them.

"It would be very useful if Environment Secretary John Prescott was to visit Ribble Valley and see for himself how the countryside is disappearing around its residents."

Mr Evans is to hold urgent talks with Ribble Valley planners to discuss the scheme, which comes up before the council's planning committee shortly.

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