CAMPAIGNERS in Guide are set to play a wild card in their bid to prevent a major commercial development on land near their homes.

Residents in the village are awaiting the visit of a government inspector who will have the final say on whether industrial units, a hotel, car showroom, petrol filling station and sport/health centre should be built on land near Haslingden Road.

But in the meantime they are planning to try to set up a survey of wildlife in the area to use as a further argument in their case for the green fields of the area to be preserved from the bulldozers.

Campaign leader Pat Kennedy said: "We don't want to see Guide swallowed up by this huge development and, in effect, becoming a district of Blackburn.

"But there is a lot of wildlife in the proposed development site and we believe a survey would prove there is a strong case for it to be made a conservation area.

"There are lots of lapwings and skylarks in the area, we know that without having to do a survey. And there is a great deal of concern all over the country about the decline in the number of skylarks."

Arrowcroft North West, an arm of United Utilities, is the company behind the project. The developers have already been given permission by Blackburn with Darwen Council for more than 100 homes to be built on a nearby site.

But councillors chose to refer the retail development to the government for a final decision, saying they were "minded" to see the work go ahead.

Blackburn Birdwatchers will be visiting the Guide on Sunday. Anybody who is interested in the expedition should meet at the car park at Queen's Park Hospital at 2.30pm.

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