PLANNING watchdogs over-ruled officers' advice and put a Lowton farmland homes plan on ice.

Hope Carr's Cllr Mark Hale was furious after planning department officers advised him and fellow planning committee members to accept developers assurances that land at Cheetham Fold Farm was free of bats and great crested newts.

And Cllr Hale was baffled as to why the borough's highways specialists had no objections to a scheme which had aroused public concern over potential traffic problems.

Cllr Hale shared the concerns of over 150 locals who have petitioned the authority against the application from Harwood Homes to build 72 homes on the 2.6 hectares site.

And he feels the authority should itself have undertaken a survey rather than accept what they had been told by the applicant.

Cllr Hale said: "English Nature says there isn't enough information available to consider wildlife implications. So how can we accept advice from the developers' own consultants that there aren't bats and newts on the site?

"This application is premature almost beyond belief.

"The Director of Engineering and myself have been to public meetings because of serious traffic problems which already exist in the area and we turned down a nursery proposal because of them. Yet he hasn't objected to this scheme.

"As an authority we are committed to protecting trees yet 14 of the 19 trees on site would be cut down."

The planning committee listened to his speech and considered 20 individual letters against the plan and an 150-plus name petition before deferring the scheme.