COUNTY councillors have rebutted claims that Pendle's highways office will close under reorganisation plans.

Councillors hit out, saying proposals will spell the end of the office based at Linden House, Colne.

The county council said that it was looking at staffing structures to improve efficiency but that there were no plans to close the Colne office.

Pendle Council leader, Coun Alan Davies, said if the service was removed from Pendle it would break up the area-based team with its detailed local knowledge of roads and streets.

CounDavies said: "The service has in our view got worse - it is already more difficult to get in touch with staff who are locked away in Linden House, instead of the front desk open to the public we previously had at Booth Street in Nelson."

A spokesman for the county council said: "We are constantly looking at the accommodation we have in the county to ensure that we run services as efficiently as possible. However there are currently no plans to close the office in Colne. It is true that we pledged to give a better service and also that we are looking again at the staffing structure in order to achieve this.

Pendle Councillors are also angry that three streets in the Waterside ward, regularly accessed by older people on bus and taxi routes, will not be gritted by the county council this winter.

But the county council said the reason behind the decision to not grit Phillips Lane, Walton Street/Chapel Fold, Peter Street and Broken Banks was the unsuitability of the streets which included their "steep incline".

The spokesman said: "The gritting routes were reviewed by highly experienced staff based in Colne who have lots of experience in the area. When the routes were reviewed some of them were found to be unsuitable for the large and heavy gritting vehicles. As part of the review our staff have also actually added roads in other parts of Pendle."