A GROUP of Tockholes residents and the owners of a controversial motocross site will come face-to-face at a public hearing.

The on-going battle led to Blackburn with Darwen Council issuing an enforcement notice in October limiting use of the site to 14 days a year.

But shortly after the notice was served, the owners revealed that they were going to apply for a licence to hold regular motocross events. The onus was on the owners of Shaws Farm, Stockclough Lane, to prove they have used the site for motocross activities continuously for 10 years.

The application was refused by the council so the owners appealed and now both parties will be able to put their cases before a government inspector during a public hearing in November.

Residents have complained that the noise from motocross activities was "horrendous" and that the land should not be used for such purposes.

They have also objected to the area - which has been referred to as an ancient woodland and biological heritage site - being destroyed by the motorbikes.

But owner Dorothy Gradwell, who lives in Bolton, today said: "We have got to prove that the site has been used for a certain period of time as opposed to the 14 days allowed without a certificate. It has been used for 21 years on an informal basis although we have only owned it for three years. It was an open site and anyone could get on to it.

"We are preparing our case and we have an awful lot of evidence and people who are prepared to help us. The site is very well known and popular and we feel we have been sympathetic to residents."

Parish council chairman Adrian Rigby said: "The issue is simple. The people who run these motocross activities believe that because they have been running these things for more than the statutory 14 days allowed, they should now be able to carry on doing it legally because no-one's questioned it up to now.

"We believe it hasn't been going on for more than the 14 days. The activities have a great impact on the village in terms of noise and it also affects Feniscowles in terms of traffic coming to the events."