AN angry resident branded planning chiefs' decision"a farce" after they gave the go-ahead for six new homes on land next to a popular pub.

Members of Bury Council's planning committee gave the green light to Raheela Parveen's application for half a dozen terraced houses on land in Walmersley Road, adjacent to the Towler Inn.

Permission was granted by the panel in line with the officer's recommendation, despite concerns over the proposed access to the site, parking and pedestrian safety.

Objections were outlined by Paul Ormandy of Hillside Crescent, which backs on to the narrow access road to the site off Walmersley Road.

He told the committee: "Currently the site is accessed by a very narrow side access point, which is for Hillside Crescent residents, not for the new site. This is barely wide enough to accommodate one vehicle, never mind six dwellings with 12 vehicles on site."

He added that the proposals for access would cause "major problems".

He continued: "Parking alone is quite congested and vehicles entering and exiting the site will find it very difficult to get out of the side ginnel and out on to Walmersley Road.

And Mr Ormandy told committee members residents felt proposed parking provision was also "less than standard".

He said: "We have six parking facilities being recommended, if residents of the new development have more than one car there's nowhere to park and nowhere for visitors to park."

And he added that the lack of parking would lead to congestion and the side ginnel becoming "clogged up".

Mr Ormandy also said the new dwellings would create an extra 12 bins, causing problems with refuse collection as some Hillside Crescent residents leave their bins at the end of the ginnel."

Moorside ward councillor Sarah Southworth also spoke against the application and, like Mr Ormandy, drew attention to the narrow access road, congested parking that already exists in the area.

She also raised the issue of road safety and questioned why access to the development was not off Walmersley Road, rather than the narrow road, "effectively a ginnel".

She said: "The proposed access point is wholly inadequate and the number of parking spaces is not sufficient. I would urge the committee to reject the plans and send them back to the planning officers for further consideration and amendment."

The panel was given further guidance from David Marno, the council's head of development. He told them that two parking spaces per dwelling was the maximum allocation - and that the good public transport links and the proximity of the town centre were taken into consideration by officers.

And David Giblin, head of highways, said that moving the pedestrian crossing on Walmersley Road to allow for a different access point was not an option.

After hearing all the representations the panel voted in favour of granting planning permission by seven votes to three.