THE call in the Commons for East Lancashire to have better trans-Pennine road and rail links is one that has been heard many times.

But it is one that needs repeating -- both for the sake of our region's economy and the country's strategic transport needs.

That better communications bring work and investment has been dramatically proven in recent years by the westward extension of the M65 to the main motorway network. Some 5,000 new jobs have been created as a result in East Lancashire.

But this force becomes blunted at our region's eastern end. There the M65 ends and the lack of high-grade road links with Yorkshire and the North East deters economic growth and puts heavy environmental strains on communities coping with the weight of traffic on unsuitable roads.

As Burnley MP Peter Pike made plain, the main trans-Pennine route, the M62, is too far south for our industrial traffic and entails long and expensive diversions.

And that motorway is now already so overburdened that the case for an alternative is as self-evident.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice's coupling Mr Pike's call for new by-passes on the route from the M65 into Yorkshire with a plea for re-opening of rail links from Skipton to Colne and from Skipton to Grassington is timely. Better rail communications with the Dales would not only improve commuter travel, they would boost tourism and the rural economy.