AN ISLAMIC college will stay at its current site after leaders lost the fight for a new home.

Leaders at the Institute of Higher Islamic Education, based in Bromley Cross, have scrapped plans to appeal against the refusal to grant planning permission for a new college in Westhoughton.

The decision means around 400 students will remain at the former Blair Hospital and blocks the sale of the site to developers who want to turn in into flats.

Trustee Yousuf Bhailok said: "We're looking at options on the current site because we can't find anywhere else.

"We've looked at 35 sites and nothing has proved to be suitable.

"We need a site of between five and 10 acres but finding somewhere like that in Bolton is proving to be very difficult."

Mr Bhailok said the college would work with the council on a scheme to expand and improve the current building within the grounds.

The college teaches students between the ages of 11 and 18 in GCSE and A-level subjects as well as Islamic studies.

A Bolton Council planning committee threw out plans for a £7 million development on green belt land Ormston's Farm, Wingates, earlier this month after protests from residents, who feared it would bring extra traffic to the area and act as a precedent for developers who wanted to build on protected land.

The scheme was to be paid for by the sale of the Blair Hospital site, where developers had permission for around 70 two-bed flats in a single block.

Mr Bhailok added: "We were disappointed by the decision because we felt it should have been acceptable and now we're back to the drawing board."