EVERYONE knows the village of Whalley is not the easiest place to negotiate in a car at busy times.

And it is not difficult to understand the anger of local residents at the news that two dentists are to move into King Street from Accrington, bringing anything up to 5,000 patients with them.

It is virtually impossible to get yourself NHS dental treatment today unless you are already on someone's list. And many dentists are telling their existing patients that they are going into the private sector and turning their backs on the NHS anyway.

In that situation it would have been particularly galling for locals in Whalley to find extra traffic clogging up their streets to take advantage of a service to which they had no access.

But now the dentists concerned say they hope to be able to provide NHS services for some people in the Ribble Valley following their move and more in the future.

That's good news indeed because it means they will become part of the community instead of being seen as newcomers who were doing nothing for it.

At the same time it should also mollify the anger of some of the objectors who will now be able to benefit from increasingly scarce treatment.