Residents,​​ businesses and opposition councillors are calling on proposals for a permanent traveller site to be scrapped.

The Rossendale council plan to create a site for five pitches on land off Blackburn Road in Rising Bridge has attracted widespread criticism.

Hundreds of residents met at Baxenden Cricket Club on July 29 to register their opposition. ​

They say it is greenfield land and that endangered animals inhabit the site.

Baxenden Chemicals ltd, which owns the land where ​the ​proposed traveller site is located, said it will oppose the plan and Conservative group leader Darryl Smith has urged the council to ‘go back to the drawing board’.

The traveller site in Rising Bridge is one of three currently proposed in Rossendale and forms part of the council’s core strategy adopted in 2011.

A spokesman for the Rising Bridge Community group, which opposes the plan, said: “The council are supposed to support and represent and listen to the local communities they live in but they are failing massively to do so.

“The land has never been developed on so is greenfield, the land is not vacant but leased by a farmer and the land does have a wildlife corridor going through it.​"​

John Lord, who is the director of Baxenden Chemicals ltd, said: “The first we heard of this was when we were contacted by local residents and I was very surprised.

“We currently lease that land to a farmer for agricultural purposes. “I want to dispel rumours that we are involved in this, it is a council plan. We are currently seeking legal advice and will be making representations to the council about this.”

Coun Darryl Smith said: “It is one thing the council consulting, a completely different thing it being accepted by the landowners.

“In 2011 the Conservative group could not support the council’s core strategy because of this pledge to create traveller sites.

“To my knowledge there has never been a permanent traveller site in Rossendale and I don’t think there is a need for one. There is more than sufficient provision in neighbouring borough’s.”

Deputy council leader Christine Lamb reiterated that this was only a proposal.

Coun Lamb said: “We have been having various meetings with residents at road shows about the plans. This is still only a proposal and I would welcome residents to get in touch with the council to register their views.”

A charity has defended Rossendale council’s decision to consult over a permanent traveller site in the Valley.

The council has been widely criticised for proposing to create a permanent site for gypsies and travellers off Blackburn Road, Rising bridge.

The Friends, Families and Travellers group, which works address problems facing the traveller and gypsy communities, said that the council had a duty to provide for travellers.

A spokeswoman said: “Local authorities have a duty to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers, in the same way they assess the need for housing for the settled communities.

“A permanent site is a win-win situation for the settled and Traveller communities. A permanent site reduces unauthorised, unplanned encampments by Traveller families stopping wherever they can find to stop. People living on a permanent site pay rent, council tax, and for water and electricity.

“A permanent site means security for all families can access healthcare and education, and rental income is generated for the local authority, and costs associated with unauthorised encampments reduced.”