BLACKBURN councillor Ashley Whalley claims he has achieved much in his two years in office.

The man who gave Blackburn the controversial orbital route traffic system has now been voted out of his role as regeneration portfolio holder.

He tells Pauline Hawkins what he thinks has been achieved in the town during his reign...

HE'S the man who introduced a controversial road system to Blackburn -- then blamed drivers for all the confusion.

He's also the man who backed a bizarre scheme which would stop refuse collectors emptying bins if they were too full --only to have his own bin pictured overflowing with rubbish outside his home.

Ashley Whalley, the larger than life councillor at Blackburn with Darwen, has often been accused of putting his size 10s right in the middle of the political quagmire.

But today he's rather less forward as he claims that he is neither bitter nor sad about his colleagues' decision to remove him from his cabinet role.

"That's politics, that's what happens," he said. "If you are going to set yourself up to try to push a vision forward you have to accept there are people who will not go along with you. "I think the political opposition has been largely visionless, mainly the Conservatives."

Coun Whalley will probably be remembered most --at least by the countless letter writers to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph -- when he incensed drivers after introducing the new traffic system at Blackburn then declaring bad motorists were to blame for the confusion which marred its opening -- and then said they should start reading the road signs.

Before that neighbours complained about rubbish spilling over from his wheelie bin -- as he tried to push through a controversial ban on dustmen removing bins whose lids exceeded an angle of 45 degrees.

But he would rather talk about the highs than the lows.

He said: "As a Labour council we have been trying to turn this town around for a long period of time and the efforts of the last 10 years are beginning to bear fruit.

"I think the progress we have made in the last two years has been outstanding.

"Church Street has been a catalyst for inward investment.

"But I think the really important point in all of this is not necessarily who is in control, whether it is under the personal direction of Andy Kay or Ashley Whalley.

"It is about trying to sell this vision of a much better future, and in some ways that can only be done by taking risks."

Coun Whalley has come in for a considerable amount of criticism over Blackburn's orbital route traffic scheme which was aimed at ridding the town centre of through traffic. "There were a lot of letters in the Evening Telegraph about the road system," he said. "But once you get over that initial step and begin to get used to it, the feedback I get now is how much better it is.

"That's reflected in the additional usage of the car parks in the town centre and the increased trade in the market and the shopping centre.

"Maybe what we have to do better is to try to harness the whole population behind that vision. Some of them are already behind it -- the Blackburn Partnership is a wonderful example -- but some perceive they will not be a beneficiary of any change."

Coun Whalley, a lecturer in politics is proud of his involvement in a series of festivals in Blackburn, including the Mela and Arts in the Park.

He said: "A prosperous economy is about generating resources.

"One of the things I have tried to do is harness the dynamism of the Asian community, the determination of small Asian businesses to succeed and the aspiration of many Asian parents for their children. It is about promoting this idea that as a multicultural Blackburn we can move forward."