A FINAL decision on a controversial housing development on a disused Nelson sports ground is expected to be taken on Monday night.
Plans by Gleeson Homes to build 104 houses on the old James Nelson’s fields will be discussed by Pendle Council’s Development Management Committee.
The application was refused by the council’s Nelson Committee at a meeting earlier this month, against the advice of planning officers, and will now be decided by a committee made up of members from all over Pendle as that decision represented a significant departure from council planning policy and there would be a serious risk of costs being awarded against the council in the event of an appeal.
The Gleeson plan is a revised version of a one refused by the same committee in the spring on the grounds there was no provision of open space within it.
Gleeson has circumnavigated that objection by taking out two houses and including a five-piece play area, but the area committee still saw fit to refuse it on highway grounds, the impact on residential amenity and the lack of adequate services for people living in the new houses.