RESIDENTS will be asked to help shape the future of Burnley by giving their thoughts on the council's draft Local Plan during a second period of consultation in May.

Parish councillors were recently told that 639 responses had been received by Burnley Borough Council during the first phase of consultation on the proposed Local Plan, last year.

Of those representations, 528 were objections but officers said there was not one specific section which had received overwhelming opposition and the objections were spread across a wide variety of points.

Officers from Burnley Borough Council are now considering the representations with the intention of conducting a second six-week period of consultation this year.

The Local Plan details which land can be used for things such as industrial development, green spaces and residential development.

During the next ten years, as planning permission is sought, the plan will advise councillors as to the local authority's policies.

Once the plan is adopted it will be very difficult to change so it is important for local people to be involved in its formation.

Peter Milward, senior planner, said: "We are now moving towards preparing a document for the second stage of the public consultation which we are hoping to undertake in May.

"There have been some objections which will result in us changing the plan but there may be others where we will write to the person who submitted it and tell them they can either withdraw their objection or continue to the public inquiry towards the end of the year.

"We will send a report to the executive in March with our response to the objections and the changes we want to make to the plan.

"Some of the objections relate to specific sites in terms of people putting forward sites for housing or employment or other objections are against sites we have put forward on grounds such as the impact on the environment.

"There were objections to certain wording of policies or that they needed strengthening.

"We had a few objections to some of the sites we put forward but not to the extent of other boroughs where they have received hundreds of objections to one specific site."