A HORWICH town councillor was branded "ignorant" and told to resign after a fiery exchange during a meeting of the town council.

Horwich resident John Halliwell spoke at the meeting about the state of a road next to his house, which he said looked like "something from the third world" because of weeds and disrepair.

He handed pictures of the back street, situated between Brownlow Road and St Annes Road in Horwich to councillors, asking them "Is this really somewhere you would like to live?"

Responding, Cllr Andrew Morley said: "Looking at this picture I think it looks very nice, there are much worse places, it is nice and green."

Mr Halliwell responded angrily, stating: "If you think that as a Horwich town councillor then you are downright ignorant and you should resign."

Asked by cllr Morley if he would consider standing for a seat on the town council, an angry Mr Halliwell responded: "If I had to come and sit here and listen to your claptrap then we would fall out."

During the meeting the council recommended approval for plans to build retail units and flats on the site of the derelict Greenwood Arms pub in Chorley New Road.

The formerly popular pub was the subject of several failed planning applications before a planning inspector upheld an appeal in 2012, granting permission to convert the building.

Cllr Kevan Helsby said: "We are all aware of the great history of the pub, but the state it is in now is bad. The plans look reasonable to me."