PLANS to build two semi-detached homes on an empty plot of land in Sunnyhurst have caused a storm of protest.

Eleven letters of objection and a petition opposing the scheme on Harwood Street have been received by Blackburn with Darwen council.

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Councillors on the borough planning committee will debate the application by local builder and landlord Shaun Clemens-Cooney when they meet on Thursday night.

Permission for the proposal was originally granted for the two houses in September 2008 when the Queen Street/Hindle Street regeneration scheme was underway under the then-government’s multi-million pound Elevate Housing Market Renewal programme.

As nothing has been done since, that approval has lapsed so a new application has been submitted by Mr Clemens-Cooney.

A report to councillors there had previously been a single property on the ‘vacant brownfield land’ adjacent to 91 Hardwood Street.

Two new semi-detached homes at 85 and 87 were built under the regeneration scheme.

The petition contains 36 signatures and the 11 letters come from residents on Harwood Street and the surrounding area with concerns regarding traffic, noise, parking, and construction related issues.

They are concerned about:

  • structural movement in neighbouring properties caused by piling works.
  • lack of off-road and on street parking;
  • traffic problems;
  • damaged to resurfaced roads and footpaths by construction activity; and
  • noise and disruption caused by building work on top of similar problems caused by other similar activity in the area in recent years.

Mr Clemens-Cooney said: “I understand their worries but they are not justified.

“I live within walking distance and have another property nearby.

“It will be a fantastic little development and will tidy up a nasty corner used for fly-tipping.

“It will improve the area and I will keep disruption and vibration to a minimum using metal micro-piles.”

Officers said in their report that local houses were ‘traditional stone-fronted dwellings’.

Their report saidthe houses would be of modest scale, incorporating door and fenestration details that are considered to be in keeping with those in thenearby dwellings and using materials that relate to the surrounding area. which will ‘set comfortably with the street scene’.

The report recommends to councillors the proposal is approvedsubject to conditions on materials, drainage, landscaping and working times. hours of construction.

One neighbour’s letter speaks of ‘four years of intolerable noise’ from the building of the Orchard Grove housing estate nearby and another said it would building the two homes ‘cause us loads of grief’.