NEIGHBOURING businesses are at loggerheads over the closure of a narrow lane.

Massive £2.75m refurbishments at the Greyhound Hotel in Leigh have resulted in temporary closure of the direct access road between the East Lancs Road and Leigh Animal Sanctuary which is situated behind the hotel.

Development work at the Greyhound involves closing the lane -- owned by the hotel -- for three weeks.

Staff and visitors to the animal shelter now have to use an alternative route from Warrington Road, raising safety concerns.

Sanctuary manager Linda Clements said: "We have two access routes, both signposted Leigh Animal Sanctuary. Grave Oak Lane is our main one to and from the East Lancs. The lane at the back of the Greyhound which leads onto Warrington Road is fine for turning left onto Warrington Road, but turning right is very dangerous. I'm worried about possible accidents."

She says the lane was closed without warning and is concerned it may never re-open.

Closing the road

Fran Sixsmith, marketing director for Sporting Lodge Inns which owns the Greyhound, said: "We hoped to resolve differences before closing the road, but health and safety executives said it must close while building work continues.

"We have offered the Sanctuary use of our internal system. Grave Oak Lane will reopen while discussions take place between ourselves, the Sanctuary, highways experts and designers as to the lane's safety and future." Miss Clements said: "We are very angry about the situation and have left in the hands of our solicitors. The hotel's internal system involves driving through their car park and considering we have up to 500 visitors per day this would be highly impractical."

As the dispute continues Mrs Sixsmith said: "We want to resolve the difficulties, we want to build a rapport with Linda and the sanctuary as we are so close and at the end of the day we want to continue our developments to make the Greyhound a unique facility to people in the area, with as little disruption to others as possible."