TO say that dental care in Rossendale is rotten is more than a pointed pun - it is shocking.

For not only does the Valley have a staggering 50,000 people with no NHS dental care, it does not have a single dental practice taking on NHS patients.

Against this appalling background, then, the plan by Manchester dentist Dr Shane Morgan to open up a new practice in Rawtenstall providing NHS care is a godsend.

For not only would this £400,000 investment provide welcome relief at the outset to the dire situation at present , it promises to be an important catalyst for improving and expanding dental heath provision in Rossendale in the years to come.

That is because it will provide training facilities for new dentists and encourage them to stay on in the area after their training is complete.

And just such a strategy was a key factor in the proposals of the East Lancashire Health Authority that were laid before ministers earlier this year when Rossendale MP Janet Anderson raised the crisis with them.

If, then, Dr Morgan's proposals promise to meet an urgent need immediately and offer just the sort of vocational training that is vital to luring new dentists to our region, it is, surely, vital that they are given every support.

And it seems he has found an ideal location for his new practice -- just across the road from the St James' Health Centre, making it convenient for any of his patients who need to be referred for medical treatment to the doctors based there.

Only one snag seems to impede the plan -- the parking restrictions on the road outside the proposed dental surgery. The answer is for the yellow lines to be removed or for Dr Morgan's patients to be allowed to use parking spaces at the health centre.

They are solutions that should be implemented at a stroke. For this promised dental surgery is too vital to be lost because of red tape.