A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build 13 homes near a grade two listed building has been approved.

Westchurch Homes Ltd has been given the green light to go ahead with development at Lostock House Farm.

After being initially denied permission for the 13 homes in December, the developer angered residents by tearing down a former farmhouse and two Victorian barns on the site.

Planning permission was not required for the demolition, but Westchurch did not provide the required prior notification to Bolton Council.

Members of the council’s planning committee described the developers’ actions as “shameful”, but narrowly voted to approve the plans at a town hall meeting yesterday afternoon.

Cllr Bob Allen, who moved the application for approval, said: “We are where we are.

“We may think we have had the rug pulled out from under us because they have moved in at a weekend and demolished these buildings, and perhaps that wasn’t the best thing to do.

“But they did have the right to demolish those buildings and we could not have stopped that.”

A spokesman for the applicant said that he did not provide prior notification of the demolition because there was an urgent health and safety issue at the site that required the buildings to be torn down quickly.

He reiterated that the company had not contravened planning regulation or done anything illegal, adding that there was evidence that children and vagrants had been accessing the site.

Since December, the development proposals have been amended to move the homes further away from the nearby Lostock Hall Gatehouse.

Cllr Ann Cunliffe said: “I still feel that even with the amended proposals, this development is not compatible with the surrounding area, especially the grade two listed gatehouse.”

Cllr Anna-Marie Watters added: “It is shameful that the buildings were demolished without proper notification.”

The site previously had approval for nine homes to be built, and Cllr Cunliffe suggested that it should have no more than 10.

Cllr Roger Hayes, the Liberal Democrat group leader, called the actions of Westchurch “reprehensible”, but added that moral objections did not fall under the planning committee’s remit.

He objected to the proposal because of its proximity to the listed building.

Cllr Andy Morgan agreed that the application should be decided on its own merits and that the council could refuse it on planning grounds, even if it would like to for moral reasons.

Outlining his support for the plan, Cllr Nick Peel said: “I am satisfied that the distances are such that there is not any real harm being caused to the gatehouse.”

Four letters of objection were received from nearby residents, citing the damage to the area’s heritage assets and local wildlife among their reasons for opposing the development.

Councillors voted to approve the scheme by a margin of 11 to nine.

However, after the decision was made, several councillors criticised planning officers for not introducing a clause that would prevent the site from being land-banked.