FAMILIES fighting plans to convert a farmhouse into a home for disadvantaged children have won the support of planners.

The controversial scheme is due to be discussed on Wednesday by Rossendale councillors, who are being advised by their planning officers to veto it.

Hundreds of local people have campaigned against the home which operates on a small scale at New Hill Farm in the hills between Britannia and Shawforth.

The home currently houses three children between 10 and 14.

The application to convert the farm from a house to a children's home seeks to increase the number to five.

The privately-run Keys Child Care Consultancy already operates similar homes in Rawtenstall and Haslingden and has its headquarters and offices on Haslingden Old Road, Rawtenstall. Lancashire Social Services, who have approved the company's other premises, have no objections to the current proposal.

The County Surveyor has not objected on highway grounds, saying in a report to Rossendale Council that the home would not generate more traffic than a large farmhouse.

But the scheme is opposed by local families who claim the proposed use is not suited to the location, the access road too poor for the amount of traffic and water and sewage arrangements unsatisfactory.

Whitworth Town Council has objected on similar grounds.

Agents acting for Keys say the house will have only minimal changes and its proposed use will still be largely residential.

As children will be housed for at least a year, with no regular visits from their parents, the agents claim the home could generate less traffic than it did when last occupied by a family with three cars, a 5.5 tonne truck and double horse box.

They say the farm's remoteness and amount of land around it will provide "a positive environment for disadvantaged children and high quality treatment for those with attachment disorder."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.