ROSSENDALE Council today admitted that its planning officers were unavailable to the public for four hours each day because they had too much work to do.

The move has been slammed by an angry council taxpayer after he rang to speak to officers, only to be told they don't take calls at certain times of day.

Charles Barry, of The Moorlands, Weir, phoned the authority to complain about a housing development. He also turned up at the offices at Stubbylee Hall, Bacup, three times, without a prior appointment, but no-one would see him.

Development and environment director John Cowpe said the system, whereby no development control officers were available from 11am to 3pm, had been introduced on a temporary basis in agreement with the previous committee chairman, before the local elections.

He said a number of factors were involved in the decision. These included shortage of staff, a new computer system and a backlog of planning applications. He added: "Something had to give if we were to try to reduce the backlog of applications and give people a service."

Mr Cowpe added that the council now had to meet new Government deadlines for planning applications and the system had been introduced as a temporary measure which was considered would make the least impact

Complainant Mr Barry said: "It is a ludicrous situation. If everybody did that, what would happen? Everything would grind to a halt. Imagine being in a road accident, arriving at a hospital and being told: 'Sorry. Come back in four hours. We can't cope!'"

Mr Barry, 61, said he rang to complain about developers at Fell View building a house behind his bungalow. The original plan was for a detached home but a semi had been built and the garden area was nearer than originally stipulated.

He said: "I rang at 10.30am and was told there was nobody available to take calls until 3.30pm. It is all very well saying we are busy but a council department should be able to cope. It is seen as a measure of its efficiency.

"It is a very bad precedent for a local authority to set and, if it becomes the norm, you could have the cleansing department shut on Monday, the recreation department on Tuesday, and so on. They could all take turns."

Rossendale Council leader Coun Graham Pearson has vowed to investigate Mr Barry's grievance.