A CONTROVERSIAL businessman has prompted outrage with plans for an asylum seekers' detention centre or open prison on the site of an old farm.

But the proposals were today dismissed by the local community, who said they were a "non starter" and completely wrong for the area.

Old Hall Farm, Oswald Street, Stoneyholme, Burnley, has been used as a bed and breakfast facility housing the homeless for the past 12 years but the proposals could see it transformed.

Landowner Paul Dew said turning it into a category C style open prison or detention centre would provide a massive boost to the area in terms of job creation and regeneration for the Stoneyholme area of the town.

A spokesman for the planning services department of Burnley Borough Council said an application had been received and would be considered in due course.

A spokesman for the Home Office said any plans would have to be submitted to the prison service, who would consider them on their merits.

But the proposals have been me with disbelief by people in the area. Daneshouse with Stoneyholme councillor Mozaquir Ali, who lives in nearby Brougham Street, said: "This idea is a non-starter for Burnley as a whole.

"My immediate reaction would be to say no to such an application and I don't think I would be on my own in saying that.

"We already have an image problem in this area and that kind of building will not help us improve it.

"It is not the first time Mr Dew has come to the council with peculiar applications which are totally out-of-character with the area. It's not something that the community will appreciate.

"We need to consider all the moral issues and in a planning context we need to look at the site.

"I think he will have problems and I don't think it's something the community will support. It would also lead to more traffic. I wish he would come up with something sensible."

Mr Dew, 49, a surveyor, who owns the site, outraged a number of Lowerhouse residents in 1997 after submitting plans for 200 new homes and a major superstore in the area.

In May, 2000, he was branded a "bad egg" by the council, when a government inspector overturned its decision not to allow Holme nursing home, Cliviger, to be changed into a house.

In 1990 he commissioned the 10ft high marble copy of Michaelangelo's Moses which he erected outside his nightclub in Red Lion Street near Burnley bus station. The site was formerly the Aenon Chapel.

Today he said the new plans were at an early stage and would be developed further if the borough council were to grant permission for the change of use.

He said the site had been chosen for several reasons, including being within easy reach of the town centre and the motorway and with a suitable workforce already in the town.

However it is also close to two schools, Calder View and Stoneyholme, as well as the town's Asda superstore in Princess Way.

Customer services manager at the store, Gillian Linguard, said: "I cannot believe it. There are two primary schools very nearby. It's unbelievable. I am stunned."

But Mr Dew, of Stonemoor Bottom, Burnley, insisted the scheme was a good idea. He said: "I am sure many people have been looking for a scheme to transform the Stoneyholme area.

The proposal outline could possibly create many jobs and generate massive investment in the town."

No extra security measures are proposed as part of the application.