A DECISION on Rawtenstall’s proposed new bus station faces further delays after a vote on the project was pulled from a Rossendale Council meeting at just four hours’ notice.

Key aspects of the scheme, including the disposal of council land and the purchase of the town’s former police station, were due to be agreed at the full council meeting in Bacup on at 6.30pm on Wednesday.

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But Conservative leader Darryl Smith said he was “disappointed” after only being informed of the decision to delay the discussions at 2.30pm.

He accused the borough’s ruling Labour party of trying to rush the plans through before May’s General Election. Cllr Smith said: “It was very, very late in the day to see it pulled, especially with only a vague explanation.

“All we got was that the council is still in negotiations with its partners. It’s a really poor state of affairs when you are supposed to be bringing a report to full council discussing such an important issue. You would expect such negotiations to have been sorted beforehand.

“To me, they have rushed this through for political purposes.”

Buildings including the police station, the old town hall, public toilets and the council’s former One Stop offices could be demolished to make way for the long-awaited transport hub.

Wednesday’s meeting was due to see councillors vote on whether or not to approve funding of £151,500 for the acquisition of the former police station, and dispose of other land and assets to allow the Rossendale Together Partnership to work.

A recommendation to provide up to £350,000 to support the first phase of regeneration, in addition to the £3.5m promised by Lancashire County Council.

Labour’s council leader, Alyson Barnes, said the decision to pull item F3 from the agenda was taken after discussions with council officers on Wednesday morning.

Cllr Barnes said: “We are still in negotiations with our partners and some details have changed late on and new information became available.

“Instead of trying to explain those complicated matters at full council, we thought it would be better to defer them until March. The new details will be made available in due course.”