A COUNCIL leader has been accused of putting his political future ahead of the people of Hyndburn.

The claim came after Hyndburn councillors voted in favour of Conservative Coun Peter Britcliffe's recommendation to amalgamate the borough with the Ribble Valley.

Opposition Labour councillors said the move would increase council tax bills and was proposed because the Ribble Valley was Conservative-controlled and the move would keep him in power.

"It's an absolute disgrace. He's sacrificing the people of Hyndburn for his own political gain," said Coun David Myles.

He said the recommendation would create a small authority unable to compete with Manchester or Liverpool and incapable of providing the same level of service unless council tax bills rose because it had fewer taxpayers.

But Coun Britcliffe disagreed and said their figures were ill-thought out and that bills would actually go down because of the higher paying properties in the Ribble Valley.

The government wants every North West council to decide how they want their area to be run ahead of a referendum in 2004.

The people of Lancashire will vote on whether to sweep away the current system of county and district councils and replace it with a North West Regional Assembly plus unitary authorities. Hyndburn councillors voted on two options -- to keep things how they were and, if changes had to be made, to join with the Ribble Valley.

The criticism levelled at Coun Britcliffe follows defeat of a Labour amendment that recommend an East Lancashire-wide unitary authority encompassing Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Pendle, Rossendale, Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley.