Bolton Council approved the demolition of a bungalow to allow the building of a two-storey house on the Green Belt.

The applicant, Faruk Puda, applied for planning permission for the site off Plodder Lane on September 20 of last year.

Previously, two applications for a similar scheme were refused on the basis of their impact on the appearance and character of the area and their impact on the Green Belt, with one of them before the Planning Inspectorate after an appeal. This application, which involves a 50 per cent increase in footprint and a 200 per cent increase in floorspace, was recommended for refusal for the same reasons.

At Planning Committee last week a representative of Mr Puda said the approach of the council was lacking in consistency.

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He said: "This property is nestled between two properties and both of these properties have been developed. This is the only property which is a single storey between them and it looks subservient to the two properties.

"The difficulty the planning officers have is the consistency because they're departing from decisions where they've allowed extensions throughout Plodder Lane."

The Bolton News: The plan for the site off Plodder Lane

A report for consideration by the Planning Committee recommended the refusal of the application.

The committee supported the approval of the application against the recommendation in the report.

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Nick Peel, a councillor for Tonge with the Haulgh, said: "Whether it's a demolition or it's an extension the garden happens to be in the Green Belt so you're subject to Green Belt rules in the same way as if you wanted to build an estate on some virgin fields. 

"I don't believe this is the intention of the Green Belt. I don't believe our forefathers who drew these lines on maps intended it to be interpreted in such a manner."

Andy Morgan, a councillor for Heaton, Lostock and Chew Moor, said: "I represented the ward for 10 years, 12 years, and this road is full of properties like this, massive properties on massive plots. Many of them don't resemble what they used to look like. 

"I think it's perverse to look at refusing it because it's been done a lot of times along there. I don't particularly like it architecturally but I'm not going to live in it."

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.