THE Prime Minister has been asked to help uncover the truth surrounding a "planning nightmare" in Burnley.

Residents in the Lydgate area are fighting Burnley Council's decision to allow Acewell Units to set up an LPG gas bottling and distribution plant on an industrial estate near their homes.

They say more than 700 local people opposed to the plan were never consulted nor were their views taken into account.

And after Burnley MP Peter Pike carried out his own investigation and was satisfied the planning application was properly dealt with, they are turning to Government leaders to look into the matter.

In a letter to Mr Blair and deputy prime minister John Prescott, residents' spokesman Brent Dunleavey says the development means they are living next to 90 tonnes of explosive and toxic gas.

He accuses the council of changing the consultation area to exclude the residential district; providing the Health and Safety Executive with outdated maps, which do not show the fully built-up area , on which a hazardous substances licence was granted to Acewell. He questions whether the council has provided "a confusing smoke screen" to avoid admitting its errors in the application process and the subsequent compensation it would have to pay to the company were it found the application was dealt with incorrectly.

He adds: "Why the planning office is allowing such a development, which affects schools and hundreds or residents, without consultations is beyond belief."

A council spokesman rebutted Mr Dunleavey's claims, asserting that all aspects of the application had been properly dealt with, including those affecting the consultation zone.

The council, he said, had issued no maps to the Health and Safety Executive, other than that submitted by the applicant, which was fully up to date and showed all the properties in the area.

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