ANSWERING machines at Rossendale Council are driving residents round the bend, it was claimed today.

Labour councillor Christine Lamb said people trying to contact officers at the authority are constantly met by recorded voice-mail messages.

She said the system is giving residents a bad impression of the council. Now she wants the council to change the way it deals with callers.

The Stacksteads ward councillor said: "I have tried to contact the council on several different occasions.

"When you ring the switchboard you are greeted by a message and then most of the time it just continuously rings.

"When you do finally get through to somebody the person you are trying to speak to is on voice mail. You leave a message and nobody gets back to you.

"I have been approached by several people about this problem and they are getting sick of it. It's sending out the wrong message. We need to be an approachable council where people can speak to a person rather than a machine. The people of Rossendale deserve a better service. It is not good enough."

Fellow councillor Molly Disley said she was 'very worried' about the current situation and added: "Members of the public are very concerned about the difficulty they are having in getting in touch with Rossendale Borough Council regarding their problems. They don't seem to be getting any answers which is very worrying. I have experienced the same problems myself. We need to make it clear to the public what they must do to get their problems sorted out."

Following a management reorganisation to help improve the running of the authority, the council has 19 vacancies. The councillors said that meant callers were reaching the answer phones of empty desks.

Council leader Peter Steen said: "It's a problem we know at the moment but we also have members of the public who don't have any trouble getting through.

"It's unfortunate if they do. We are talking about a shared contacts centre where every item will be dealt with at one centre.

"We are looking at that option although it will not happen immediately. It's something we need to do and it's something we will do."

He said staff were confident about the future.