A SCHEME to create a multi-million-pound attraction to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors is being opposed by residents because of fears over increased traffic and access.

J T Rawlinson & Son was granted outline planning permission to develop buildings at Lindal Business Park two years ago but detailed planning permission is to be considered by Barrow planners on February 27.

The company wants to expand Chandlers Cafe and kitchen facilities next to the Colony Candle factory to create retail areas and a children's fun factory, and to create car parking and landscaping.

The 25,000 sq ft development, which could be completed in the next 12 months with the creation of 25 to 30 jobs, will also include a large courtyard for staging live music and demonstrations.

The development will be linked to the A590 via a new access road, roughly parallel to London Road, which will emerge at the existing junction.

Partner David Rawlinson, whose family has farmed in Lindal for 60 years and opened the business park ten years ago, said the Colony Candle factory and cafe were highly successful but no longer enough for visitors.

"We need other things for kids and fathers and in tourism we cannot stand still," he said.

"Furness has been lucky because we have the Dock Museum, the zoo, the Glass Centre, which are very successful but we are all trying to bring visitors into the area and we have got to do something new."

But residents fear the centre, which is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, will bring unwelcome levels of traffic and might create difficulties with vehicles, such as coaches, manoeuvring into London Road.

Lindal Parish Council has been calling for years for increased safety on the A590, which cuts through the village, and on accident blackspots, which include the London Road junction.

Parish clerk Jack Smith said the plans had always been contentious and the detailed application, which was submitted to Barrow Borough Council just before New Year, was on the agenda for their next meeting.

"People will have reservations, of course, about traffic but what good that will do is difficult to say because the outline permission has already been granted," he said.

Chairman of the parish council Alan Jones confirmed there were some concerns over access to the A590.

"He can build his garden centre but he cannot open it to the public until he builds a road that satisfies the highways department," he said.

A spokesperson for the Highways Agency confirmed they were meeting Mr Rawlinson early next week to go through the application.