COUNCIL bosses today admitted they had announced plans for a £2million railway station without getting permission for trains to stop there.

Blackburn with Darwen Council announced in September it had secured the money for the station, which would service the Whitebirk and Greenbank business parks.

But the council has yet to speak to the Strategic Rail Authority - which controls train services and franchises - about the development, due to open in September 2008.

The SRA said it knew nothing about the scheme and would have to decide whether it was feasible to let existing services stop there. It said it would not consider altering the franchise with Secro-Ned, the company taking control of all services in December, until it was satisfied the station was required.

It had been expected that the Blackpool South to Colne service - which stops at every station on the East Lancashire Line - would add the new station on its route.

But a spokesman for the SRA said: "We have not included it in the new franchise recently signed by Secro-Ned and have had no approach about it.

"There is quite a lot to do before a railway station is added to a service route. It would need to prove it was economical and practical and actually worth altering services for. This has yet happened."

The SRA said its own surveys would take about 12 months and so would not delay the new station's opening - provided it gave the go-ahead.

In September, Coun Andy Kay gave the impression a deal had been done saying: "Local services will stop there."

Coun Kay, in charge of regeneration at the council, said: "Thousands of people are employed in close proximity to this new station and this will improve public transport access to the site immensely.

"It will also make it even more attractive to the firms looking to move in."

Today Coun Kay said: "The station plans are at a very early stage and it is not intended it would open until 2008.

"We submitted a bid for European funding which was only recently secured so it would have been premature to enter into negotiations with the SRA until we were confident the scheme was viable."

Tory councillor Paul McGurty said: "I'm very disappointed the council made such an important announcement to the full council when so much can still go wrong. The idea of building a railway station with no assurance a train will stop there is incredible."

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Damms said: "Without a sensible public transport system and places like Whitebirk and Greenbank, East Lancashire just becomes a residential area without a purpose."