FRIENDS of the Earth claim highways bosses are presenting a biased case in favour of road building at the start of a public consultation over plans for the controversial A56 by-pass in Pendle.

The Pendle branch of the environmental group was due to hand out leaflets and a briefing document today to visitors to the first of a series of exhibitions in the area outlining plans to build the new road between Colne and Thornton-in-Craven.

Campaigners in Lancashire and Yorkshire have joined forces to put the brakes on the scheme which they claim would, in effect, be an extension of the M65 motorway into North Yorkshire.

They said it would end any hope of re-opening the Colne-Skipton rail link and the destruction of some of Pendle's finest landscape, not only by the new road but also new homes, business parks and industry it would attract.

"We are extremely concerned that people are being asked to decide the future of our area without access to traffic volume data, never mind the full facts," said transport activist Matt Gordon.

"The county authorities are suggesting that the traffic congestions experienced along half a mile in Colne's North Valley is best resolved by building a seven mile stretch of road through some of our best countryside, whilst carefully avoiding any mention of the unrestrained industrial and housing development that goes with it."

Campaigners said the new road proposals are out of line with national policy guidelines and are not supported by the Highways Agency or the Regional Development Agencies on both sides of the Pennines. Lancashire highways committee chairman, County Councillor Richard Toon, said: "This is the public's chance to tell Lancashire and North Yorkshire county councils what they think.

"For a number of years there has been traffic congestion in the North Valley area of Colne and this has a significant environmental impact on the local communities."

National groups such as the Council for the Protection of Rural England and Friends of the Earth have pledged support for local campaigners, who include the Colne-Foulridge Environmental Protection Group, Community Action Network and Transport 2000.

The first exhibition to launch the public consultation was due to be held in Colne Municipal Hall today.

Further exhibitions will be staged along the proposed line of the by-pass, in Foulridge, Kelbrook, Earby and Thornton-in-Craven, during the rest of the week.

Environmentalists handed out their own leaflets, called One for the Road, and copies are available from local libraries and post offices and Earby New Road Community Centre, or by contacting 01282 862980.

The by-pass is one of four schemes being considered by Lancashire, only one of which will get the green light. People have until the end of this month to make their opinions known.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.