RESIDENTS look set to win their fight against a controversial prospective waste transfer station near homes in Rossendale.

Councillors and neighbours have united to condemn blueprints for a waste facility at Spodden Mill, off Station Road, Whitworth, which could see 165 tonnes of building rubble dumped there each day.

And if Lancashire County Council's development control committee follows the advice of planning officers, the proposals should be rejected at a County Hall meeting in Preston on Wednesday.

Coun Thomas Aldred, a borough and town councillor in Whitworth, said: "This particular site is in the middle of residential accommodation and with the heavy goods vehicle movement it is totally inappropriate.

"We also have to take into consideration the youngsters who use the Samba Dance Studio there, and the potential of bringing them into contact with these HGVs.

"It is quite close to the main road but the access to it is not brilliant - you would have to quite take a large swing to get out from Station Road."

Rossendale Borough Council has protested about the scheme - particularly the effect on people living at 12-18 Station Road.

Whitworth Town Council has been another objector, with members also pointing out that Station Road is ill-equipped to deal with heavy goods vehicles.

County highways managers also say that Station Road is too narrow - at three metres - to allow regular access to the proposed waste transfer station.

Protest petitions of 95 and 49 signatures have been presented to the development control committee, along with 52 individual letters of objection.

People were also concerned about the effect the waste plant would have on the adjoining Samba Dance Studio.

And neighbours were worried about the effects of noxious odours, vermin and dust from the intended development.

Around 40 HGVs and 10 smaller vehicles would arrive at, and leave the site daily, as part of the operation, councillors have been told.

The former Spodden textile mill's roof has been lost in recent years and it is proposed that waste would be sorted under a canopy roof erected over the building's shell.

In a report to councillors, a planning officer, recommending refusal for the waste station, says: "The use of land for the purposes of a waste transfer station would have an unacceptable adverse impact on the amenity of surrounding properties by virtue of noise, disturbance and associated heavy vehicle movements."