CAMPAIGNERS have urged planners to protect their village when a new strategy for the next 15 years is drawn up.

The council’s core strategy, which is being consulted on, will set out projects for the area and how the borough will look in the future.

But councillors in Huncoat said that they feared for the future of their village after a series of industrial projects were approved.

Coun Paul Gott is urging residents to attend an extraordinary meeting of Huncoat Area Management Council next month in a bid to protect the area’s green spaces.

Both he and fellow ward councillor Dave Parkins asked borough council planners to attend the public meeting on the area’s core strategy, which will set out planning guidelines for the next 15 years.

Coun Gott said: “These plans will impact on Huncoat quite a lot and we have to get it right now, or it will come back and bite people in 10 years time.

“There are places such as Spouthouse Woodland, which I see as the lungs of Huncoat, which need protecting. As many people as possible need to get involved.

“Huncoat is a residential village and we must see it remain that way.

“There have been too many industrial developments approved for the village and it is because the council’s previous strategy identified potential industrial sites here.”

Recent projects in the village have seen a waste transfer plant approved for the former Huncoat power station site.

An access route will cut through the green belt to access it.

There are also further proposals for the Whinney Hill tip.

The meeting is at St Augustine’s Church, Bolton Avenue, on Thursday December 3, at 7pm.