THE owner of a day nursery has five months to demolish an extension built without planning permission in a green belt area.

A government inspector has backed Rossendale Council's refusal to allow further extension at Newhaven Nursery, Manchester Road, Haslingden.

Owner Stephanie Buckley now has until the summer holidays to pull down the conservatory extension built without permission and another three months to restore the site to its original state.

Mrs Buckley told a planning appeal that she needed the extra space to maintain services at a time of increased competition because of the government's nursery voucher scheme.

She told the inquiry last month that the conservatory, only part of which will have to be demolished, is currently in use. The planned first floor extension would be an after school club. But the inspector Alan Upward ruled the developments unsuitable for a green belt.

And he could not find any special circumstances to allow extra buildings.

His report says Mrs Buckley agreed extra room was "desirable rather than necessary."

And it points out that since 1984 the size of the development has almost trebled.

The report adds: "Buildings at 548, Manchester Road, now fill almost all the plot's highway frontage, and represent a substantial stone built complex within a site which extends some distance in depth.

The current extension and the planned one would both be visible and further encroach on the openness of the area.

He concludes: "The character and appearance of the immediate locality will have been significantly affected by growth at the site since 1984."

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