OPPONENTS of plans for a Barrowford supermarket are preparing for a fight when councillors make their decision next month.

A draft planning report into the proposals for a Booths superstore at the former Pendle Brook care home, off Halstead Road, was submitted to Pendle Council's Barrowford and Western Parishes Committee on Thursday.

Susan Nike, who represented the residents, said nobody was upset about the idea of the high-class store in the village, but they felt the site was wrong and the building would look out of place alongside traditionally-built houses, adjacent to a conservation area.

She added that there would be a huge increase in traffic with the extension of Nelson and Colne College and the development of Barrowford Business Park, and that highways experts at Lancashire County Council were in disagreement with experts employed by the store chain.

Planning officer Paul Whittingham said the proposals for the layout of the roads, along with full traffic assessments, would be finalised and posted on the Pendle Council website before the next meeting.

Mrs Nike also attacked the proposal because it would mean cutting down 21 out of 24 trees, and excessively pruning the ones that were left, even though they were all subject to tree preservation orders.

Mr Whittingham said the purpose of a tree preservation order was to ensure they could not be cut down without permission, meaning that sensible decisions could be made later, not to stop any changes ever being made.