COUNCILLORS have reacted with anger and disappointment to a decision by a government-appointed planning inspector to allow housing development on the site of the former M&S Discount store at Glazebury.
Part of the site is Green Belt land which will be lost when the plan for 14 luxury homes goes ahead.
An angry Cllr Chris Vobe said: “There has always been support for renovating the former Discount Store site by removing the disused filling station and landscaping the area.
“We have always supported homes for local people being built there.
“But there should be no negotiation on the Green Belt. Once the boundary is breached, it opens the floodgates for more.”
Cllr Sue Bland said: “It is a disappointing decision. It would have been an ideal site for affordable homes.
“But something had to be done – the site is an absolute eyesore on the approach to Glazebury.
“Only a small amount of Green Belt land is affected.”
Earlier this year, the borough council threw out proposals for housing on the site.
Planning chiefs said they were not opposed in principle to housing but were opposed to the use of Green Belt land.
Cllr Vobe said Glazebury residents had fought to protect Green Belt land around the village for years.
There had always been support for removing the former discount store and petrol station and for building homes suitable for local people.
He added: “The kind of housing being proposed here is not what Glazebury wants or needs. When these plans were first announced, our community overwhelmingly called for homes which were affordable for the sons and daughters of local people. Instead, this development will price people out of the area – jeopardising the security of the Green Belt at the same time!”
Picture: the eyesore M&S Discount site.
