UP to 1,600 jobs will be created if plans to build a business park on green field land in Pendle finally get the go-ahead.

A resubmitted planning application has been put in by Peel Investments North to build the development on 24 acres of land between Barrowford Road and Lower Clough Mill, Barrowford.

The scheme, first raised in 1993, was put on hold earlier this year while the results of a traffic assessment survey were studied after residents complained it would create traffic chaos.

Now after Lancashire County Council said access to the site was adequate and would not impact on junction 13 of the M65, Pendle Council officers have recommended the scheme be approved.

However, Councillor Linda Crossley, chairman of Pendle Council's Barrowford and Western Parishes committee, today said members and residents disagreed with LCC because the business park and the new nearby Nelson and Colne College campus would create traffic problems.

She added if the development went ahead a park and ride scheme could reduce traffic.

"The creation of jobs is a positive thing but we have got to consider the negatives. If there is going to be so many jobs created 1,500 people coming in to the area is going to cause problems."

If approved, nine two-storey units would be built and permission would be granted to erect a number of other buildings and roads into the site. A final decision would then have to be made when in-depth plans were put forward.

Peel Investments would have to meet 20 conditions including only offices, research centres, laboratories and hi-tech industries could be based at the business park; a travel plan examining how people would arrive at the site would have to be carried out; an ecological survey is conducted; a nearby pond is searched for amphibians and any found transferred to a new home.

The application will be discussed at a meeting of the Barrowford and Western Parishes committee tomorrow at the Civic Hall, Maud Street, Barrowford, starting at 7pm.