A MULTI-million pound move planned by Bolton Sixth Form College has suffered a setback after councillors decided they did not like the scheme.

College chiefs want to demolish the existing south campus on Lever Edge Lane, Bolton, and move to the site of the former Queen Street Primary School in Queen Street, Farnworth.

But Bolton Council's planning and highways committee has put a decision on hold, telling college principal Roy Whittle he must either scale down his £14 million plans or find another site.

Cllr Sean Hornby said: "I think the college are trying to cram too much on to this site and I'm not convinced it's the right location.

"They need to get the architects to take a fresh look at this and maybe sit down with residents to come to a compromise."

The scheme would see two buildings either side of Dobhill Street, Farnworth, which would be pedestrianised, with the main three-storey college building to the west.

Mr Whittle told the committee the three-storey building would accommodate 750 students and 65 staff.

He told councillors there was not adequate post-16 education available for young people in the south of the borough. He said: "This is very much about providing opportunities to young people in an area characterised by a significant amount of social deprivation."

But planning consultant Tony Whitehead, speaking on behalf of the adjoining Anthony Axford's sawmills and local residents, said the plan was over-development of the site.

He added: "This site was abandoned for educational purposes before because it was deemed unsuitable for a primary school with 250 children - now we are talking three times as many people."

Residents have also raised concerns that the three-storey building will block sunlight to their homes.

Committee members said they were concerned the 59 parking spaces proposed would not be enough, despite assurances from Mr Whittle that most students would either walk or use public transport.

After the meeting, Mr Whittle said: "Obviously this is a setback but it was encouraging that councillors recognised the importance of this development.

"We exhausted our site search two years ago but I'm pretty confident we can overcome the problems on this site.

"Clearly we are going to have to look at what we can do to increase car parking and provide more detail about what we currently do to mitigate the impact on neighbours.