Residents have come together to oppose plans for development on 94 acres of land in the countryside that two billionaire brothers have an interest in.
The group called, Protect our Greenbelt and Rural Communities, say they are against the council's plans to include green fields between Belthorn and Guide near the M65’s Junction 5 in Blackburn as part of their draft Local Plan.
A protest will be held by the group on Saturday where they will march four miles from Belthorn War Memorial to Blackburn Town Hall.
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LancsLive reports that Monte Blackburn Ltd, the property arm of EG Group founders Mohsin and Zuber Issa business empire, has a legal option on the land between Belthorn and Guide, where campaigners believe radioactive waste was dumped down old mineshafts in the 1950s.
Group spokeswoman Donna Simpson said: “Residents of Belthorn and Guide have formed a community group ‘Protect our Greenbelt and Rural Communities’ with the aim of highlighting their objections to the proposed strategic employment site within Blackburn with Darwen’s local plan and the resultant release of green belt land to facilitate this.
“They believe the site will cause significant environmental damage and that the evidence being used to support the abandonment of the area’s longstanding green belt protection is flawed. Specifically, the group is campaigning for the proposals which require the destruction of green belt land bounded by the B6232 Grane Road (an acknowledged accident black-spot) to be removed from the plan.
“This is for a number of reasons – such as the impact of increased traffic, damage to the environment, and the detrimental impact on rare wildlife. On Saturday residents will march from Belthorn to Blackburn to raise awareness and collect signatures to present to councillors to share their objections.”
Local resident and group member Kathryn Sharpe said: “If this plan goes ahead it will lead to destruction of villages as they get swallowed up in urban sprawl.”
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