PLANS have been lodged for five new cutting-edge environmentally friendly homes on green belt land.

Planners in Blackburn with Darwen have received an application for homes to be built on land off School Lane in Edgworth to be built following the principles of the Passivhaus Institute in Germany.

Passivhaus is a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building’s ecological footprint.

It results in buildings that require ultra-low levels of energy for heating or cooling.

If approved, the development would be built on the former Hob Lane village school playing field.

Club bosses at Turton FC have issued a letter of support for the development because it would prove financially beneficial to them.

The club sold the land and a provision was built into the development that it would receive 15 per cent of the value of each plot.

It hopes to net around £150,000 in total if the development goes ahead.

The proposed development also includes the creation of a community eco-park comprising a pond/lake with dipping and viewing platform, a fenced off ecology zone and an accessible park with associated wheelchair-accessible path, planted with native and orchard trees, shrub and other planting.

Developers had initially proposed building nine homes on the site and there was no community eco-park proposed at the initial stage.

But pre-application discussions with council officers led to the proposal being rethought to revise the number of homes to five and introduce the community park.

They hope this, along with the benefits to Turton FC, will make the application more acceptable to planners.

A spokesman said: "The site is located in the green belt.

"Both national and local Green Belt policy confirms that limited infilling in villages is appropriate.

"The application proposes limited infill in a village.

"It is therefore appropriate and should be approved.

"However, in the event that the decision maker - be that the local planning authority or an inspector at appeal - takes the view that the proposal is inappropriate, then the case is that there are very

special circumstances that justify the proposal.

"The creation of a community eco park utilising over two thirds of the application site, with the range of biodiversity, visual and landscape enhancements and social, recreational and

educational benefits that will deliver.

"And the benefits the scheme will deliver to Turton Football Club, as one of the oldest clubs in the world, helping to enhance its facilities and sustain the most important social, cultural and sporting organisation in Edgworth, for the benefit of its players and supporter."