Gateway entrance site to Burnley sold at auction for almost £50,000

The area, known locally as The Copse, went up for auction yesterday with Pugh and Co with a guide price of £25,000 but it sold for £48,000.

The land, at the junction of Accrington Road and Wilfield Street, was owned by Lancashire County Council.

A green space for decades it was referred to as The Copse because it was densely packed with trees and bushes.

There was a public outcry in December when the many trees that had grown there were felled and the land put up for sale.

Neighbours and residents living close to the site claimed that while it may be legal, the clearing of the site was 'not ethically right' as it was a a long established haven for wildlife, birds and hedgehogs.

Volunteers with the Burnley arm of Incredible Edible, who put forward a proposal for a ccommunity garden with gateway artwork and sculpture on the site, were left crushed when the county council did not consider it.

And their request for the sale of the land to be put on hold until after the pandemic was also turned down

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said that since the site was listed for sale last year it had listened to representations about the use of the land and, as a result of concerns expressed about the area being screened from nearby homes from the main road, it would be applying a condition to the sale requiring the buyer to put up a fence and hedge within eight months.