PLANS to sell off land near a school for housing and buy back an entertainments venue have caused a huge row in East Lancashire.

Councillors are set to consider controversial proposals to sell off fields near Red Lane in Colne in the shadow of Sacred Heart Primary School.

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And to further infuriate critics, they will also debate a £2.2million deal to buy out Pendle Council’s share in part of the ACE Centre in Nelson.

But council chiefs insist the controversial deal will save money.

Another 35-home plan for a plot near Red Lane, at The Meadows, was rejected on appeal recently and opponents fear a larger development will follow if the sell-off is completed.

Beck Developments, the unsuccessful developer at The Meadows, is the identified buyer at Red Lane.

Cllr Joe Cooney, the borough’s Conservative leader, said: “This is simple profiteering by Pendle Council.

“They have been wooed by a big development firm’s chequebook and are happy to sell the school and the residents down the river.

“We don’t even know what would happen to the £1.2million they would receive. How much would they spend on the local community? How much would they spend in Colne?

“And on the same night they intend to borrow £2.2million to buy the ACE Centre, a building which they already own.”

Cllr Cooney said it was ‘crazy’ that the deal for the ground and first floors of the centre, including the bistro, would not cover the purchase of the enterprise centre on the second and third floors, which offered the greater potential returns.

Council leader Mohammed Iqbal defended the council’s position stating the plans would ‘ultimately save money’.

He said: “It costs £150,000 extra a year to lease it. Instead of paying a lease we will be paying a mortgage.

“I have asked officers to do a root and branch review of where we can save money. It is cheaper for us to borrow something than to pay a lease on it.”

He also did not rule out selling it in the future.

On selling the school field, Cllr Iqbal, said: “The government is imposing housing targets and the council has no option but to sell off assets for housing.”

Cllr Nathan McCollum, another Vivary Bridge ward councillor, said the ruling Labour and Liberal Democrat alliance had told a public meeting on the Red Lane site that this was ‘the best they could hope for’.

He said: “It was held on a night which they knew Cllr Cooney couldn’t attend and I wasn’t even invited. Now we know why, they want the cash and have no regard for the impact any development would have on local residents.”

Opposition councillors have called on the current administration to resist the Red Lane plans and reconsider going into debt for the ACE Centre, amid claims it has become a ‘white elephant’.

Questions have also been raised regarding whether the loan repayments schedule has been factored into the proposed savings, as a result of the buyout.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said it seems ‘preposterous for the council to borrow money to lease a building it already runs and has control over’.

He said: “It is a ludicrous waste of money and at the same time the council is planning to sell off land in Colne to facilitate house building against residents’ wishes.

“The ACE centre is a significant venue.

“The council controls it and has never been able to make money from it.

“The council should be looking at what it can do so it returns a profit not borrowing money to swap it from a joint venture with a private company to being run by the council.”

The council’s strategic director, Dean Langton, is recommending both the Red Lane and the ACE Centre deals for approval, when the executive meets at Nelson Town Hall tomorrow. (Aug25) He is arguing that borrowing £2.2million from the Public Works Loan Board, to acquire the authority’s share in the centre, would make better financial sense than renting the ground and first floors.

The centre is owned jointly with Barnfield Construction as part of PEARL, the council’s well-established development partnership with the Nelson-based firm.

Mr Langton said that there would be no changes to the way that Pendle Leisure Trust ran the ACE Centre, including the performance spaces and bistro.

He added: “Similarly the council’s acquisition of its interest in the ACE Centre will not affect any other part, which will remain in the ownership of PEARL.”

Thirty office suites are available on the second and third floors.