A British National Party political film shot on a council-owned recreation ground which featured leader Nick Griffin has come under attack.

Mr Griffin can be seen alongside Burnley borough and county councillor Sharon Wilkinson in the 25-minute film which features on the party’s website.

A section of it is shot on Hapton Recreation Ground, apparently contravening the local parish council’s strict non-political rules.

Hapton Parish Council chair, Christine Pucket-Goulden, said: “It is private land and belongs to the parish council.

“We cannot have any party political things filmed on there.

“It was filmed on our land without our knowledge.

“We are a non-political council and in the code of conduct all of our councillors must be non-political.

“I must stress that we would have been concerned about this whichever party had done the filming.

“We pride ourselves on our independence and the use of the recreation ground for these purposes contravenes this.”

The matter came to the council’s attention after a villager wrote to Mrs Pucket-Goulden asking who had granted permission for the filming.

It has emerged that fellow councillor Derek Dawson filmed the footage of Coun Wilkinson and Mr Griffin visiting places in Hapton where council action had been taken.

The council has requested an explanation from Coun Wilkinson on who, if anybody, gave permission for the film before any further action is taken.

Coun Wilkinson was unavailable for comment yesterday.

She is the Leader of the BNP on the council and sits on the leadership and community committee and the audit committee.