A COUNCIL leader has slammed county bosses and told them to do their own dirty work after discovering plans to consider the future of a local care home.

Hyndburn First Ltd, the borough council's regeneration arm, was going to approve a county council initiative to set up a task group to look at the future of Hill Top House, Baxenden.

But after the Lancashire Evening Telegraph made Council leader Peter Britcliffe aware of the situation, he removed the recommendation from the agenda last night.

Instead, Hyndburn First, a body with representatives from the borough council, LCC, business, voluntary groups and the police, approved only the setting up of a task group to look at general issues facing elderly people.

He said: "I oppose the closures and I would say to Lancashire County Council, stop hiding and have the guts to come forward, we are not prepared to mop up after your spilled milk.

"I have demanded that the recommendations be removed and I would ask the LCC members to come forward themselves and not hide behind Hyndburn First, which has done superb work in Hyndburn."

The council is against the closure of 32 of the county council's 48 care homes.

Nigel Rix, director of Hyndburn First, said: "The resolution, as originally worded, might be misinterpreted at this stage that Hill Top will definitely close.

A spokesperson for LCC said: "Lancashire County Council identified Hill Top as one of the homes that would be retained and developed along with other partners to continue to provide services for elderly people."