COUNTRY park land in Oswaldtwistle could soon be controlled by the local community.

Residents met to discuss the future Bury Wood, off Nook Lane and Stanhill Road, with several ideas being put forward.

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Development specialist Angela Davies organised the meeting, held at St Mary’s Parish Centre, on behalf of owner Arthur Morgan. She said the site had always been planned as a ‘rural amenity for the locality’ and that the owner was looking to give local people a say in how best to ‘use and enhance it for future generations’.

She said: “Questions were inevitably raised about the clean-up of the country park site, given its proximity and use as part of the Cocker Chemical Factory for much of the last century.

“We were able to provide reassurance as to its safety and have provided those interested at the meeting with a full report.”

Over the last ten years, 68,000 trees have been planted at the park, new barriers and fences have been erected, and new paths have been laid.

Several ideas have been touted for the land, which incorporates the old Calico mills and is beside Stanhill.

They have included an equestrian facility, educational campus, and visitors’ centre. And now the idea of developing locally-controlled community businesses is being considered.

Local councillors, officers, and other agencies will be approached for help, while volunteers will also be sought.

Another meeting will be held at St Mary’s Parish Centre on Wednesday, October 22.

For more information, or to express an interest in helping at the park, call Angela on 07946 551616.

l Arthur Morgan is set to appear in court accused of permitting waste to be dumped on his land, at the former Nipa site in Nook Lane on April 13, 2015, a charge he denies.

Wigan-based firm Blakeley’s Waste Management and its former director Stephen Blakeley last year pleaded guilty to illegal flytipping on the site, which caused a ‘plague of flies’, between June and July 2012.