TORRENTIAL rain caused a mudslide which blocked part of Blackburn's orbital route.

The wet and heavy mud slid down steep banks covered in small trees and bark at the edge of the B&Q car park, Russell Street and Bolton Road.

Motorists were forced into one lane while workers from a landscape and maintenance firm used an excavator to clear the road and pavement and made the area safe from 9am yesterday.

Battling through the rain, the workers attempted to ensure that the excess run-off of water would not cause another landslide and erected barriers around the site to isolate the slide.

Contractor Ron Jones, who was in charge of the clean-up, said that the landslide had been caused by the sheer volume of water that had soaked into the mud over the last couple of days.

He confirmed he had been asked by the private owners of the site to respond to the incident quickly and had called a maintenance team to the scene.

The steep piece of land, which is only a few metres wide, is currently the centre of a £1million legal battle between developer of the site, Henry Boot Construction Ltd, and Blackburn with Darwen Council, over who owns it.

Sheffield-based Henry Boot Ltd, which built the B&Q Warehouse in Townsmoor, Blackburn, has begun action against Blackburn with Darwen Council as part of the dispute.

The company says it should be allowed to stay on the land -- which runs between the B&Q car park, Russell Street and Bolton Road-- or be paid to restore it to its previous state.

But the authority has begun its own High Court action claiming the developer is trespassing on its land without permission.

The council needs the land to help it widen roads around Freckleton Street bridge, which is being replaced next year.

But the construction company has previously come under fire from senior Labour councillors who said that a retaining wall should have been built to hold up the car park rather than installing shrubbery on a steep banking.

Coun Andy Kay, executive member for regeneration said: "The land in question is privately controlled and work was carried out the same day to clear the soil and mud from the road."

When B&Q opened in 2004, it created 190 jobs, and was attracted by Blackburn with Darwen Council, which helped it buy the former Nova Scotia mill site.

The 150,000sq ft store is the largest in Blackburn, and there are several small shops, including a Comet, nearby.