CONTROVERSIAL plans for apartments on the site of a former pub have been given the green light.

Bury Council’s planning committee approved permission for a four-storey complex comprising 16 apartments on the former car park of The Waterside in Summerseat by five votes to four.

The pub, along with Kay Street Bridge, was partially washed away in the Boxing Day floods of December 2015, and was later demolished by Bury Council due to safety concerns.

The bridge reopened to pedestrians in March 2016, but the demolition of the pub left it with no permanent barrier on the upstream side, meaning it has remained closed to traffic ever since. Planning permission to reconstruct the bridge was granted last summer, and it is expected to reopen later this year.

An application for 17 apartments and associated parking spaces was submitted by the land’s owner Owais Khan back in January, and was met with more than 100 objections by angry residents. The application has since been reduced by one apartment.

At last week’s meeting, North Manor Cllr James Daly was among those who expressed his opposition to the plans, citing “insufficient parking spaces” and his belief that the building was out of character with the area.

He added: “This will cause pandemonium. It is a large development that will dominate its surrounding and is completely out of character with neighbouring buildings.”

Peter Winsche, the chairman of Summerseat Village Committee, added: “It looks completely out of place. Summerseat deserves better than this.”

However, a planning agent speaking in favour of the plans said careful thought had been given to the design of the building. They added: “The site in its current form is a blot on the landscape.

“This development is a modern but sympathetic addition to preserve but enhance the conservation area.”