The government has decided not to take over the planning process for two controversial sections of a massive new water pipeline from the Lake District to Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

The £1.75 billion Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project (HARP) will replace deteriorating 70-plus-year-old water mains to keep water flowing through the 110-kilometre pipeline.

It requires major works in the Ribble Valley, Hyndburn and Rossendale boroughs.

So far seven councils have approved the planning applications for the upgrade from United Utilities, including Hyndburn and Rossendale.

But two controversial sections of the pipeline in Ribble Valley borough through the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have yet to be finally decided on by the authority's planning committee.

They include work around Marl Hill and Newton-in-Bowland, Waddington Fell Quarry, Bonstone and Braddup.

Plans include tunnelling, rural road widening, work compounds, HGV lorry routes and temporary bridges built across the rivers Ribble and Hodder.

Final approval of the Ribble Valley HARP works was put on hold after a request was made for Michael Gove, The Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, to call in the applications for scrutiny by a national planning inspector.

Now he has decided against doing that and returned decisions on the scheme to the council.

In making his decision, Mr Gove made clear he had carefully considered the call-in policy and is happy for these matters to be considered at a local level, re-iterating the government’s commitment to give more power to councils to make their own decisions on planning issues.

The chair of Ribble Valley Council's planning and development committee, Cllr Sue Bibby, said: “The decision of the Secretary of State is very welcomed.

"He has scrutinised both applications for several months and concluded such matters should be determined by the local planning authority.

"As a council we consider we are best placed to make our own planning decisions in the interests of our local area and our communities.

"The decision of the Secretary of State reinforces this.”

A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “We welcome the news from the Secretary of State that the decisions on the Ribble Valley planning applications for the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme can now be made at local authority level.

“We will continue to engage with all impacted local communities and authorities as we progress this vital infrastructure scheme.”

Hyndburn Council's planning manager, Simon Prideaux, added: "The council’s planning committee has resolved to grant planning permission for the Hyndburn stretch of the replacement aqueduct and associated works subject to a legal agreement being entered into and subject to planning conditions.

"The planning application was accompanied by an environmental statement and there were no requests for the Secretary of State to call the application in."

The plans in the Forest of Bowland AONB will now return to Ribble Valley Borough Council to make a decision in due course.