HYNDBURN'S history will be lost if the public vote for a regional assembly, councillors in the borough claimed last night.

The council's controlling Tory group forced through a motion which positions the authority against so-called devolution in the form of a North-West Regional Assembly.

But Labour members of the council refused to back the stance, saying it wasn't up to the council to have a position on something the public would be voting about later this year.

In a report presented to last night's full council, it was stated that the authority's leadership felt the regional assembly would receive little real power from Westminster, and was not something most people in the region wanted.

If a regional assembly was voted for in October, it would also kick off a shake-up of Lancashire's local government system with the current borough/county council system being placed with unitary councils.

For Hyndburn, the options are expected to be merging with Blackburn with Darwen and the Ribble Valley; merging with the rest of East Lancashire or be part of a county-wide unitary.

Voters will be asked to pick their favourite at the poll.

Coun Peter Britcliffe, leader of the council, said: "It is another step towards us just becoming a region within Europe.

"There is no benefit to people in Hyndburn of regional assembly. Instead of having councillors on their doorstep, they'll have some remote body with just 35 members making decisions in Warrington.

"More locally, our services will be run from somewhere else, most probably by Bill Taylor and his gang at Blackburn.

"The public in Hyndburn don't want this and it is perfectly acceptable for us to take a stance on this."

Both Lancashire County Council and Ribble Valley Council have come out against the changes, while Blackburn with Darwen's leadership is vociferously supporting the shake-up.

Hyndburn deputy mayor Sandra Hayes said: "Part of our history will go if we lose Hyndburn.

"When Hyndburn replaced the district councils 30 years ago, we lost a lot of our heritage. The same will happen again."

But David Myles, deputy leader of the Labour group, said: "Who is the council to take a stance on this?

"The public will decide later this year and we should respect that. We should be making sure people are aware of what it is going on.

"I don't think the public are saying 'we don't want it'. I think they are saying 'we don't know anything about it at all'."