BUSINESSES could move out of the Pendle area because of a lack of hotel accommodation if a controversial scheme to build a 66-bedroom complex on the site of a Pendleside pub is rejected, councillors have been warned.

The businessmen behind the project have vowed to go to appeal if councillors follow a recommendation to turn down their proposals. .

The partners behind the ambitious scheme at the Forest Hotel, Cuckstool Lane, Fence, which they say would create 140 jobs, have said there is a shortage of upmarket hotel accommodation to the point where firms could leave the area in future rather than expand.

But planners are concerned the proposed hotel with function and leisure facilities breaks Green Belt rules, would lead to an increase in traffic and would be "inappropriate" and detrimental to the surrounding countryside.

"Industry is crying out for this kind of four-star accommodation," said Clive Seedall, one of the partners.

"We have business people coming to us saying this is exactly the sort of thing the area needs. Some people visiting firms in the area have had to stay at hotels as far away as Bolton and Manchester. This scheme would be ideally located to serve industry in Pendle and Burnley.

"Firms could end up relocating instead of expanding."

Andrew Hepworth, executive director of the business, public and voluntary partnership Initiative Burnley, in a letter of support to Pendle Council for the hotel scheme, said: "The area is well catered for at the 'budget' end of the market but even so there can be a problem of availability. "This problem of availability is much worse at the 'business class' level where there is a particular shortage of hotels offering the facilities expected and demanded by internationally travelling businessmen." There are only three hotels in Pendle, the Oaks, Reedley; the Stone Trough, Kelbrook; and the Great Marsden, Nelson, while other accommodation is either attached to pubs, bed and breakfast or smaller guesthouses.

Council planning officer Stan Healey has recommended that the scheme is turned down by the authority's Barrowford and Western Parishes area committee on Thursday.

His report says: "Whilst anecdotal evidence suggests there may be a shortage of local hotel accommodation in the locality no exceptional case has been submitted to the extent that Green Belt policies should be set aside on this site."

Seven letters objecting to the scheme, raising concerns about increased traffic danger and noise, safety and the fact the development would contravene planning regulations, have been sent to the council.

But 155 letters of support for the proposal have also been received, many from local businesses.

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