PLANS to build seven homes on green belt land next to a garden centre site have been rejected.

Bolton Council has refused permission to demolish a number of buildings at Baxter’s Landscapes, in Chorley Road, and erect a new cul-de-sac in their place.

The applicant had argued that there are ‘very special circumstances’ that meant the development should be permitted, such as the decline of an existing egg-producing business on the site.

However, council planning officers say that a housing development would cause too much harm to the green belt and that they had seen no evidence that another agricultural business could not use the site.

The Bolton town hall planning officers added: “Owing to the scale of the proposed development, the design of the dwellings, which does not reflect the rural vernacular of surrounding development, and the amount of hard surfacing proposed it is considered that the proposed development would harm the character and appearance of the area.”