CONTROVERSIAL plans for a business park at Barrowford may not be decided for another three months.

Residents turned out in force at a Barrowford and Western Parishes Committee meeting to voice their objection to the scheme which has been in the pipeline for 13 years.

Now councillors have decided the plans should wait until a Government inspector reports back on how land in Pendle should be used. Pendle Council should know how much industrial land it needs by the end of May, when the borough's Local Plan is decided upon.

Residents are relieved about the delay which also gives the council time to look at their concerns about the impact of Nelson and Colne College's plan for a one site campus down the road from the proposed business park. There are fears over increased traffic of both schemes on junction 13 of the M65.

People are also worried about the lack of an environmental impact assessment and the scheme's impact on the nearby Carr Hall Road conservation area.

Resident Brian Whittle said: "A lot of people here this evening would tear the whole thing up.

"Where is the demand? It almost looks like building for building's sake. What is the main change since approval in 1993 and now? There is one substantial one and that is the M65 now being open to the M6 and Pendle is becoming a cul-de-sac for the large amount of traffic that alone has generated."

Resident Susan Nike said: "You are destroying the very reason people want to come here by allowing this to happen.

"Defer this and try and put together a comprehensive, linked up plan, not bits and pieces all over the place."

But developers Peel Investments said Pendle Council had advised them an environmental impact assessment was not needed, increased density on the site fitted in with Government policy on effective use of the land and it would be a high quality development. Company spokesman David Roberts said a detailed traffic study had also been carried out and Lancashire County Council was looking at the roundabout.

But councillors were unhappy with the scheme and wanted to delay a decision until they had more information.

Coun John David said: "All of us would like to see the back of this application. We are in a position where outline planning permission was granted by the Secretary of State following an independent inspector's allocation of the land as suitable for development. I'm as angry as anybody else in this room. I do think it should be deferred."

Committee chairman Linda Crossley added: "This is a major issue and we don't have enough information."