COUNCILLORS have demanded answers from care bosses after they admitted Clitheroe's multi-million pound health centre may not open for five years.

Ribble Valley Council has called for Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Care Trust (PCT) to spell out the reasons for the delays -- as they were previously led to believe it could open next spring.

A total of £65million is being spent on centres across East Lancashire, with the first three in Darwen, Nelson and Bacup already complete.

Councillors said they were told work on the Clitheroe health centre, under the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT), was to start in January and finish by spring.

But some members heard PCT chief executive Mark Wilkinson has said it would not be up and running for at the least three years.

Councillors also told the meeting they had even been told health chiefs were looking to put a lift in the existing health centre in Railway View Road to 'make do'. Leader of the council Coun John Hill blamed a Government shake-up, which could lead to the PCT merged with Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT into a larger Lancashire-wide authority.

Coun Hill reminded councillors it was not a decision for the trust alone but for the developers East Lancashire Building Partnership, made up of builders Eric Wright, the Department of Health and the three PCTs.

He said: "I find this deplorable. It is mystifying and goes beyond belief that it should be this far away.

"We need to put forward a motion to get clarity from the PCT exactly what they are going to do about this.

"We need new services here and it is not good enough to delay things just because there is going to be changes to the PCT."

Mr Wilkinson said: "We have never put a timescale on the scheme and we continue to look at a number of options for Clitheroe.

"We have not agreed the site and as yet there is no agreement on the size of the scheme.

"It is important to recognise that PCTs are now going through a major reorganisation.

"It is inevitable as the PCTs reassess the priorities for the new organisation, as a consequence, the scheme will probably be three to five years away."

No one at East Lancashire Business Partnership was available for comment.