A RAILWAY cutting at the centre of a long-running planning row is once again safe from developers — for now.

Bolton Council planning bosses have thrown out an application to prepare the disused railway cutting in Long Lane, Darcy Lever, to be filled in to a level for houses to be built.

The refusal, on the grounds of a lack of detailed information, is the latest in a saga stretching over a decade to protect the land from development.

In 2007, a Government inspector paved the way for housing developers to build on what they claimed was a wildlife haven. The inspector ruled against a decision by Bolton Council to officially designate an old railway cutting between Long Lane and Hollycroft Avenue as a public footpath.

Sean Hornby, ward councillor for Darcy Lever, who sits on the planning committee, was part of the campaign to protect the land in the mid-1990s. He said: "I feel passionate about this and I think the decision made was the right decision. Insufficient reports were submitted to the planning department.

"The infrastructure in Darcy Lever is not able to sustain the vehicles travelling to and from the site for the infilling process.

"Deer have been seen in the area. This is a very controversial issue and applications have been refused in the past when I was chairman. The council fought the appeal and unfortunately lost the appeal. The land is now allocated for housing."

Mr Hornby said the Darcy Lever Residents’ Association was set up in 1994 to fight applications to develop the land.

He said: "I took part in a protest walk in 1994 against plans to develop it – this issue has been going on for a long long time."

Outlined in the application were plans to underpack the bridge and fill-in the disused railway cutting – together with the erection of two access gates.

But the application was refused as insufficient information was provided about traffic and the presence of bat roosts.