RIBBLE Valley's council leader is heading a revolt against tough tier three coronavirus restrictions being imposed on the whole of Lancashire.

Cllr Stephen Atkinson's concerns have been backed by his Chorley Labour counterpart Cllr Alistair Bradley with Lancaster and Wyre also opposed to being placed in the highest level of constraints.

Cllr Atkinson said: “A lower level of restrictions for the district would be a lifeline for businesses before Christmas.

“Our numbers are among the fastest-falling in Lancashire and at the current rate of decline we could be down to around 100 cases per 100,000 people in the next few weeks.

“I would like to thank the residents and businesses of Ribble Valley for their hard work and compliance during these unprecedented times.”

Cllr Bradley said there was 'a good case' for Chorley being put into tier two.

He said: “I think we would be disadvantaged by going into tier three and our economy would be damaged – but with no real benefit to reducing transmission, because our numbers are coming down sufficiently fast and would continue to do so under tier two.

“It would obviously be more simple for the government to lock down an entire county.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Cllr Mohammed Khan: “I expect we will be placed in the highest tier by the government because while our infection rate is falling, our cases are still much higher than the national average and hospital admissions are also still quite high.

"I know this will be extremely frustrating for residents and businesses especially our hospitality sector who I know will feel unfairly singled out.”

The leader of Preston City Council Cllr Matthew Brown said restaurants, cafes and pubs should be allowed to reopen under whichever tier the city ended up in.