YOU have to hand it to the anti-car cranks in the town hall when it comes to ingenuity.

For the latest idea - floated as part of a so-called 'Home Zone' scheme in Blackburn to curb traffic in a residential area - is to tear up its streets' tarmac and replace it with grass.

Presumably, motor mowers that go faster than a snail's pace will also be excluded.

But even if this rum and radical measure succeeds in keeping cars from passing through, where will the residents' cars go?

It's only the other day that another car-hostile scheme was unveiled for three streets in Accrington - one which, it was estimated, that would prevent up to 100 car owners from parking their vehicles near their homes.

But do the designers of these schemes ever consider the right of people paying steep sums in road tax to put their vehicles on the road to park their vehicles close to where they live, so they can easily access them and keep an eye on them?

It seems not. The endless mantra chanted by our local government eco-maniacs is "Car bad. Green good".

But they never back it up with closure of the town hall car park, do they?