Councillors were warned not to risk jobs in Donington in spite of a plan for 51 homes there being described as “awful”.
Permission to build 39 houses and 12 apartments next to haulage firm Turners Donington Ltd was deferred at South Holland District Council’s planning committee following concerns about noise and lack of road access to some of the homes.
Westleigh Developments Ltd and New Hall Park Ltd want to build the homes on a brownfield site accessed from Malting Lane.
Coun Roger Gambba-Jones, chairman of the committee, said councillors should tread carefully when asking about the noise impact from Turners on the homes.
He said: “Donington is a growing community and this plan is very disappointing.
“But if Turners get too much hassle from this they could easily up sticks and move, costing jobs.
”The same happened with Machins of Holbeach.”