EAST Lancashire residents have less than a week to tell the government what they think about the proposed shake-up of local and regional government.

The Boundary Committee has given the public until February 23 to make its feelings clear about how authorities should be re-shaped to fit into a proposed North West regional assembly.

But thousands of homes in Lancashire have still not received a leaflet explaining and asking for views on the three options for local government re-organisation currently being considered by the Committee.

Despite many homes not receiving the consultation leaflet the Committee said it has no plans to extend the deadline for responses because it was not obliged to produce the leaflet in the first place. Now East Lancashire's lone Tory MP Nigel Evans is writing the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to give people more time.

The Ribble Valley MP has written to John Prescott to ask for an extension. He said: "The time for responses is pitifully small in light of the fact that the Boundary Committee has had problems distributing the leaflets and anyone away at the moment will not have time to respond to the consultation." The Boundary Committee is considering three options for East Lancashire. The first would be a county-wide all purpose unitary authority run from County Hall in Preston.

The second would see Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Pendle, Burnley, Ribble Valley and most of Rossendale merging to form an East Lancashire council. The third would see Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley merge to form a new unitary council with Pendle, Burnley and Rossendale doing the same.

As well as the three agreed options the Committee is also being urged to consider new proposals put forward.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has dropped its support for a merger with Ribble Valley and Hyndburn and now wants to link-up with only parts of Ribble Valley which include Mellor and Wilpshire.

A referendum will be held in the autumn to decide whether the public want an elected regional assembly.

Boundary Committee director Archie Gall said: "We are now approaching the final stage of the review.

"We have seen well constructed arguments from councils and the public which will enable us to make informed decisions for changes to local authority structure in Lancashire."