Ministers call for halt on £50m East Lancs bus lane work

In the first move from the new government on the Pennine Reach scheme, a letter has been sent from the Department for Transport warning Blackburn with Darwen council will bear the 'financial risk'

if it chooses to carry on.

It is a major blow to the project, which would link Blackburn, Darwen and Accrington with a dedicated bus lane.

Also covered by the £45million funding package were a proposed bus station on the current site of Blackburn Market, improvements to Accrington bus station and the transformation of Great Harwood town square.

Town hall bosses hope that as a public transport scheme it will be given priority over competing projects.

But they are preparing for a scaled-down version, possibly not including Accrington, and have given up on the original timescale of 2011 to 2014 for the work.

Tory council leader Mike Lee said: “We know that £50million can go in the stroke of a pen, and that is the worry.”

The Department for Transport is looking to make spending cuts of £683million this year as part of the £6.2billion deficit reduction plan.

A scaled-down version of Pennine Reach would be expected to focus on the A666 between Blackburn and Darwen.

If the scheme is cut, another location would have to be found for the bus station in Blackburn - provided the £70million Cathedral Quarter masterplan, earmarked for the boulevard, does not go the same way.

A temporary solution would be found in the Ainsworth Street area until more funding could be found.

And the masterplan for the Furthergate area, involving a new 'gateway' into the town from the Whitebirk roundabout and a new business park, would also be threatened.

Hyndburn council leader Peter Britcliffe, who opposes the project, said: “I am not sure I will be shedding many tears.

“But I am concerned that Accrington bus station and the car park at the Civic Theatre in Oswaldtwistle have been lumped into it, so I will be lobbying for these.”