The brakes were put on Pendle Conservative’s plan to give away public land to a private businessman, at a meeting of Pendle’s Policy and Resources committee on 24th July.

Labour councillors lodged objections to the plan after consulting residents living in the Holt House area of Colne and asked for more information to be available before any decision was made.

The Conservative leadership agreed to Labour demands to pause and seek answers to questions about a number of issues from the owner of Colne Football Club. A previous resolution, which had been agreed by the Conservatives to allow their Leader to negotiate any terms of handover of the land, has now been withdrawn.

Labour’s Azhar Ali says:

“The decision to simply give away public land without any consultation has never made sense and many residents in the area were understandably upset. We have also asked that a formal public meeting be held with local people to listen to genuine views from those affected by this proposal