A NEW £500,000 state-of-the-art police station for Bacup is set to be scrapped.

Instead, Lancashire Police Authority is looking at building a smaller central base for Rossendale officers - but it will not be open to the public.

Police bosses believe that the borough's smaller police stations can continue to be used to maintain contact with residents.

The police authority was forced to come up with the alternative idea after a planning application for the £500,000 station was turned down earlier this year.

The authority had been granted outline permission last December to demolish the former Horace's nightclub, off Market Street, and replace it with the new station.

But the detailed plans were recommended for refusal at a meeting of Rossendale Council's development control committee in January.

Councillors turned down the application - referring to the design as 'a prison' - after it was revealed a perimeter fence would be erected.

Details of the new plans are set to be discussed at the Lancashire Police Authority Resources Committee on Wednesday.

Steve Hodkinson, Lancashire Constabulary property services manager, said in a report to the resources committee: "Despite there being no objections from the public, the planning committee of Rossendale Council refused the planning application.

"In view of this, a proposal that policing in the Rossendale Valley be delivered by the provision of an operational deployment centre, supporting smaller police stations strategically located in the main centres of population, was being worked up.

"Although the proposals have not been fully developed yet, it is envisaged that the smaller police stations would provide public access points and a base for the community beat managers and local officers. A potential site for an operational deployment centre is currently being sought."

The state-of-the-art station would have housed 80 officers, including community beat managers and police community support officers.

But according to councillors, the building, which is within the Bacup Conservation Area, was not in keeping with the town's heritage.

David Thompson, of Bacup Consortium, opposed the development after raising concerns about the proposed building materials, including synthetic sheeting for the roof which the consortium would like to see in slate or stone.

He said: "We felt that this location would have been ideal for Bacup but our objection was to the design of the building."

Coun Judith Driver said: "I was appalled at the design. When we looked at designs for the new health centre, from people's opinions in that area it came out that they didn't want that kind of building. Railings around the station would have said to people -- this isn't the place to come and live -- it would have looked like a prison."