MINOR amendments to a scheme to build 31 homes off Long Ing Lane in Barnoldswick have been approved despite a move to get footpaths on the site officially recognised.

Local resident Peter Crompton, a member of the Save Barlick's Green Fields campaign, said: "We've campaigned to have the pathways, which criss cross the site, turned into official footpaths. There's no reason why they couldn't be included in the plan.

He explained that Lancashire County Council's legal department has written to Pendle Council planners asking for three footpaths to be put on to the Definitive Map.

In the letter by LCC's Hannah Baron, she writes: "I can confirm that the land on the planning application proposed is affected by a Definitive Map Modification Order (DMMO) application to add three footpaths on to the Definitive Map.

"The application was submitted, investigated by officers and presented at Lancashire County Council's Regulatory Committee on July 1, 2015, where it was proposed by members there was sufficient evidence that a right of way existed, and therefore, proposed that an order be made. A draft order has been drafted and is currently awaiting to be made.

"If and when the order is made and it receives no objections, the order will be confirmed and will record the three routes shown on the committee plan as public footpaths. It would be advisable to accommodate the routes in the proposal or to provide a suggested alternative, as the applicants appear to have done."

The order could be made and the routes legally diverted under the Town and Country Planning Act before building work begins.

Alternatively, if the matter is left until the houses are substantially complete, the developer would need to apply to the county council to divert the footpaths.

"There's no reason the paths shouldn't be recognised," said Mr Crompton. "This is our last throw, having campaigned for two years to get these paths recognised."

Local resident David Henley told last Tuesday's meeting of West Craven Area Committee: "These footpaths are very well used. In the morning, people are out walking their dogs on them."

Neil Watson, Pendle Council's planning and building manager, said: "The developers are aware the footpaths are there. They will have to keep them free from obstruction or re-direct them by applying to Lancashire County Council to temporarily close them down. Until they start to develop, we won't know."

He also said that currently the footpaths are not on the definitive map, meaning they are not official footpaths.

Although Barnoldswick councillor David Whipp admitted the situation with footpaths is a "right nightmare", he made a motion to approve the developer's application to make minor amendments to the scheme.

He said: "We turned the planning application down at outline stage but it was overturned on appeal, so very reluctantly, there is a requirement for us to agree these changes. We didn't like it before, but we've come to the end of the road on this one."