BARNOLDSWICK residents are asking Lancashire County Council to put urgent contingency plans in place to ensure that bus services in the town are not disrupted.

Several bus services, including school busses and the main bus to and from Burnley, use the turning circle outside the old Fosters Arms pub in Gisburn Road, which is under threat.

Lancashire County Council currently lease the turning circle land from the owners of the former pub, but the agreement expires at the end of August, and the title-holders have put in a planning application to Pendle Council to convert the turning circle to residential land.

Councillor Jennifer Purcell, who represents the Craven ward, has expressed cornern that the loss of the turning circle may result in bus services being suspended.

She said: “This is going to be a major headache for us in Barnoldswick. This is the only turning circle that the busses can use.

“If this person wants to develop the land then they are entitled to and there is nothing we can do about it, but Lancashire County Council need to get off their backsides and do something about it or we will end up with no busses.

“It will be a tight squeeze to get down those back streets with cars parked either side. We are going to have problems - how will the busses be able to turn round?

“It looks bleak at the moment, we’ve got a big headache on our hands.”

Coun Purcell has asked the council to put contingency plans in place so that residents are not left without access to public transport.

She said: “The children would need to walk all into town just to get the bus to school - there’s no other bus service for them.

“And it’s not just them, it’s the elderly people who live down here as well. How are they going to get to Burnley?”

Tim Gornall, the council's bus and supported transport manager, said: "The county council currently leases the land from the landowner of the public house and uses it as a bus stop and turning circle.

"However, when the lease ends on 31 August, we may no longer be able to use the land in this way.

"We will have to make changes to the local bus routes if the area is no longer available to be used as a turning circle."