Chorley Council's planning chiefs had recommended that an application to replace St Mary's Church Hall, in Lawrence Lane, Eccleston, with an estate of 11 two-storey homes, be approved.

But the application came under fire from angry residents and county councillor Alan Whittaker at a planning on Tuesday night and new reports will now have to be filed before the application can be considered again.

Coun Whittaker, said of the long-running battle against the development of the site: "The correct decision was made by the planning committee and now a site visit will be organised and a new report will be put together before the plans go before the council again.

"I was allowed to speak at the meeting and Eccleston resident Martin Fisher also represented the views of people living in the village.

"There are three main issues with the planning application and they include the fact that the initial planning report was seriously flawed as they claimed that the hall was predominantly used by the church which is just not the case.

"The second factor is that the new hall, which has been re-built adjacent to the church, is considered a replacement for St Mary's Hall, which again is not the case. It is like comparing an air craft hanger to a garden shed.

"The hall should never of been sold in the first place and hopefully a new report will address our concerns."

Deputy chairman of the planning committee, Coun Geoffrey Russell, said of the decision: "It was a fairly difficult issue as the arguments didn't just centre on planning matters but whether we should allow the site to be developed in accordance with our policies as it was a community hall.

"Arguments put forward claimed that the application didn't conform to our policies and now our planning office will look carefully at the application, but in the meantime it has had to be put on hold."

Residents had attempted to buy the derelict hall in 2005 to allow it to be used by the whole community but they were gazumped by Newcastle-based North East Care Homes, who bought the site for £275,000.

The firm later submitted a raft of applications to build an 80 bed nursing home for elderly people - but the plans were initially withdrawn and later refused by Chorley Council.

In 2006, plans were again submitted and withdrawn to build a 55 bed care home on the site. The new plans to build homes on the site were first submitted earlier this year.