HYNDBURN Council's new ruling Labour group has come under attack after putting itself in charge of its own scrutiny.

The Labour Party has amalgamated the two scrutiny committees and given the chairmanship to Miles Parkinson, one of its own councillors.

Under the previous Conservative regime, there were two scrutiny panels, one chaired by each of the two main parties.

The housing and economic regeneration, environment and transportation overview and scrutiny committee was chaired by Conservative Anthony Dobson, while Labour's Miles Parkinson headed the social housing, leisure and central services scrutiny committee.

Labour took control of the council after a shake-up in boundaries and this month's local council elections gave them 18 seats to the Conservatives' 17.

Before the changes, which reduced the number of seats from 47 to 35, the Conservatives had an 11-seat lead, holding 29 seats.

Under the cabinet style of local government, scrutiny panels can call in decisions made by the cabinet, a role that Conservative leader Peter Britcliffe feels would be better fulfilled by the opposition.

"You can do this within the rules but it's hardly healthy in a very close situation that their party is conducting its own scrutiny," he said.

"We have got the vice-chairmanship but that has no power. I automatically expected we would be the leading party in the scrutiny procedure and we are not."

Labour leader Ian Ormerod said it was a matter of logistics that the council had had to reduce the number of scrutiny panels from two to one.

"If you are on the cabinet you can't be on scrutiny panel or the standards panel so that reduces the numbers that we have available," he said.

"I have gone for a cabinet of seven, and seven from 18 leaves 11. You then take out four for scrutiny and you are down to seven.

"We have been extremely generous in giving the Conservatives a lot of vice-chairmanships that I doubt would have come our way if they had retained control."

Coun Ormerod said the chairmanship of the scrutiny panel would be reviewed after six months.

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said it was up to individual councils how to organise themselves.