A BITTER row over a village eyesore owned by a former Ribble Valley mayor is over.

Ribchester villagers accused Anthony Jackson, who was mayor in 1993 and a parish councillor for 20 years, of scuppering their chances of winning the Best Kept Village competition because of an "ugly and unsightly" derelict petrol station that he owned in the village centre. But Ribble Valley councillors have now given the former mayor the go-ahead to demolish the structure and redevelop the site.

Angry residents claimed at an earlier meeting that they were becoming "increasingly depressed and frustrated" at the garage's appearance, which "seriously detracted from the general attraction of the village."

But the mayor had argued that he had every intention of demolishing the building and "the sooner the better."

Ribble Valley Council's planning committee agreed for the petrol station to be demolished.

A plan to build houses at the controversial site is yet to be considered.

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