THE brakes have been put on a council's "new wheels for old" plan following a wheelie bin dust-up with contractors.

Burnley aimed to spend £650,000 providing wheelie bins throughout the town, using cash from the controversial sale of its stake in Burnley and Pendle Transport.

The flagship scheme intended to ensure residents benefited directly from the bus sale. But months after the original launch date for the project, the council has still to buy its first bin.

The local authority and its cleansing contractor UK Waste cannot agree a price for emptying the wheelies.

And if agreement is not soon reached, the whole project could be shelved and the cash used to bail out the deficit in Burnley's capital spending programme.

A special meeting of the town's public protection committee next week will decide the best way forward.

One option will be for the council to wait until the UK Waste contract expires in 18 months' time before introducing the system on a wide scale.

Coun Marcus Johnstone accused UK Waste of running fast and loose with the council, changing their price at every meeting.

"The fault is with the contractor," he told the policy committee. Development director, David Brown, confirmed that no wheelie bins had yet been ordered.

"We have not been sitting back doing nothing since budget time. We have been negotiating.

"We cannot enter into an agreement until we know how much the contractor will charge to empty them .

"The final figure will determine whether we go ahead or not," he added.

Another high-profile plan using cash from the bus sale could also be halved this year because of the £500,000 capital spending deficit caused by Burnley council not drawing in as much cash as expected on the sale of other assets.

The £250,000 earmarked to provide social lighting to make back streets safer could be slashed by half.

But the possible saving was attacked by Liberal Democrat leader Gordon Birtwistle, who successfully urged councillors to review the proposed cut.

The cash could be restored if the wheelie bin plan collapses and cash is released from other areas.

But Coun Birtwistle said social lighting should not be dependent on mistakes on the wheelie bin contract.

"We have many a hundred dark streets and alleys and it is an important issue."

He told Labour leaders: "You promised the people of Burnley these improvements in the budget and cannot go back on it now."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.