IT'S not unknown for local authorities to behave strangely sometimes and Lancashire County Council is obviously no exception.

To most people the idea of signs welcoming you to Lancashire being erected on the roads out of Blackburn and Darwen must seem plain daft.

Those who already live here, and many people who don't, know full well that we are in the heart of Lancashire.

Tourism organisations don't exclude the unitary boroughs of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool from Lancashire and nor do various partnerships which know that in reality the county is all encompassing.

But then maybe they don't have the bureaucratic minds of the people at Lancashire County Council who insist that the county is only represented by their precise boundaries.

As Blackburn with Darwen council's leader Sir Bill Taylor says: "Just because they don't run the services in our borough, it doesn't mean we aren't part of Lancashire."

Conservative Coun Paul McGurty indicates a cynic might also think the county's action could have something to do with making a point about local government organisation in advance of decision time over a regional assembly.

But whatever the reasoning these signs are stupid - and a waste of public money to boot.