REVISED plans for hundreds of homes at a golf course have been recommended for approval, six months after a government inspector threw out a bid to build on the site.

Council planners have given their seal of approval for the 276 houses at Horwich Golf Course.

This comes after 1,232 letters objecting to the development were sent to the local authority.

Now, the decision rests with the planning committee who will vote on the proposed development by Peel L&P this Thursday.

Stocks Residents Association, which led the fight against a proposal for 300 houses at the site last year, said it will continue to oppose this plan which harms the landscape "significantly".

Chairman Malcolm Harris described the development as "unnecessarily".

He said: “We are disappointed that the officers are recommending again to approve. Last time they recommended it for approval, the members rejected it. They have got it wrong again. Local people have not got it wrong again."

Horwich North East councillor Kevin McKeon said he will urge the planning committee to vote against the development.

He said: “In the local plan, the golf course was designated as an open space so it shouldn’t be built on. And the Labour administration suggested in the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework the golf course should be green belt and that was accepted by the whole council. It’s clear that the council has a policy that this land should not be built on."

His ward colleague, Cllr Marie Brady, said that the development is the wrong sort of housing, in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

She said: "It is difficult to understand why officers recommend acceptance of an application that conflicts with the core strategies, ignores accredited consultant reports, and ignores Bolton Council recommendation that the 'protected open land' be further protected by designating as Green Belt."

Cllr Brady urged the planning committee not to "rubber stamp" recommendations but to listen and consider all views before making decisions.