A new sports area is to be built at a Barrowford school - but residents are unhappy at losing their parking spaces for the development.Lancashire County Council has granted itself planning permission for the fenced-off pitch next to Barrowford Primary School, Rushton Street.
The multi-use games area (MUGA) is planned for a patch of unmarked land next to the school used as car parking space at the moment, and only pupils will be able to use it.
Pendle Council and Barrowford Parish Council fear that as well as removing the public parking space, the fences will look out of place in the architectural conservation area.
Some 18 residents wrote to the county council to object to the proposal. They said parking was already at a premium in the village, and that losing public spaces would force even more cars into parking on the main road.
Pendle representatives also told councillors that children could be put at risk by using the area as they would have to go out of the school grounds to get to it, along a busy road. Speaking after the meeting Coun Linda Crossley, chairman of Pendle Council's Barrowford and Western Parishes Committee, said she was disappointed the plans had been approved despite people's concerns.
She said: "I don't think that's the right place for the games area. A lot of residents have pointed out that there is another quite large area of land at the back of the school which would be an excellent place for the children to play, though perhaps not ideal for a fenced-off MUGA.
"We were annoyed they decided to go ahead with it because the parish council objected strongly to it, residents objected and Pendle Council voiced its objection but we were all just completely overridden.
"It is very frustrating when local opinions are just not taken any notice of. I'm not sure I would like a child of mine playing there. There will be fumes from the road, and there is always the risk, no matter how well supervised they are, that a child could run out."
County Coun Tim Ormerod supported the proposal, saying that the land had been earmarked as a play area for years, and that the MUGA would help the school meet the government's new requirements for PE.
Source: http://www.lancashireeveningtelegraph.co.uk
