A CONTROVERSIAL plan to extend Scout Moor quarry in Edenfield has been rejected by county councillors.

Planning experts at county hall had recommended the scheme be given the green light despite strong objections from residents in the Rochdale Road area of Edenfield, Rossendale Council, English Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

But councillors went along with the complaints raised by residents who have sent petitions and several letters to county hall to show the strength of feelings in the area about the plan.

Councillors took the view that the development was unacceptable because of the traffic problems lorries travelling to and from the site would create.

The potential impact on the surrounding moorland of the extension, the scale of the proposed plan and the question of whether it was needed or not also prompted councillors to turn the plan down.

The chairman of the council's development control committee, County Councillor Terry Burns said: "Members appreciated there might have been some benefits from the development in relation to the existing situation in terms of highway improvements financed by the applicant.

"But on balance the adverse effects of the development outweighed these and we decided the application should be refused."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.