THE Ombudsman is being asked to investigate the sell-off of Hyndburn Council assets, including Accrington bus depot.

More than 30 busmen and passengers calling themselves The Concern For Hyndburn Group have signed the letter to the Local Government Ombudsman.

But the council says it is acting in the best interests of the community, faced with reductions in funding and government policy which has forced it to take action it would ideally not have chosen.

The authority has confirmed that a site swap has now been agreed subject to contract with Accrington Timber and Building Supplies Limited.

In the deal the building merchants would relocate to the Ellison Street bus depot moving in by February 1998 after refurbishment.

The council would get Accrington Timber's sites in Ormerod Street, Accrington, and Library Street, Church, together with a "substantial" but undisclosed sum of money. The Ormerod Street site would complete a parcel of council-owned land earmarked for the development of new civic offices overlooking the proposed St James' Square.

The council's vehicle maintenance section would relocate to Church, leaving the depot by October 1997,

Hyndburn director of development services, Nigel Rix, admitted that the series of transactions might appear strange or even piecemeal to puzzled members of the public.

But relocating from the Eagle Street council offices to a more energy efficient building would produce net savings of £70,000 a year, reducing bills and hopefully council tax.

The Concern For Hyndburn Group claim that the bus depot, purpose built for bus and taxi maintenance, was only offered on short term lease to bus operators interesting in buying Hyndburn Transport.

If the depot had been included in the sale to Stagecoach or another operator local jobs could have been saved and probably more jobs created, they add.

A council spokesperson said it was the group's right to contact the Ombudsman, but if they required a direct response chief executive Mike Chambers would welcome a meeting with them .

The council said Hyndburn Transport and the bus depot were offered to more than 20 companies and everyone one of them said they did not want the depot.

Stagecoach was the only company that would buy the whole of the council-owned bus company, safeguarding the majority of jobs, but again they did not want the depot.

"The council was faced with being left with an empty bus depot. A local company will now use this building to expand its operations, providing an appropriate use of a major public asset," added the spokesperson.

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