A COUNCIL leader has slammed Government officials for highlighting an East Lancashire community warden scheme as "a success" - a year after it was scrapped due to a lack of cash.

Whitehall officials were left red-faced after saying the crime prevention scheme in Hyndburn should be copied elsewhere in Britain.

But the initiative was scrapped after three years in the borough, because of the loss of government grant and the council's decision to keep free car parking in Accrington town centre.

Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe claimed the Government did not know what was happening in Hyndburn.

The warden scheme was one of 50 projects hailed as a success by a Home Office Policy Action team.

The Hyndburn scheme - which ran from 1995 to 1998 - is detailed in a report as providing high profile foot patrols and liaison with police in the town centre.

It was financed by the council, the Single Regeneration Budget and the private sector.

But a cut in government grants meant the council had to decide between ending Accrington's popular free parking scheme and axing the wardens last summer.

Conservative Coun Britcliffe said: "This just shows how little the Government knows about what's going on in Hyndburn.

"I think the scheme was scrapped by Labour in a fit of pique during the debate on the future of free car parking."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said: "It was very good scheme. I was very disappointed when it ran out of Single Regeneration Budget funding.

"I am delighted that it has been praised by the government and will now be seeking finance to pay for a successor scheme in the future."

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