TOWN hall chiefs have decided against a proposal to allow members of the public to speak at committee meetings of Blackburn with Darwen Council.

A review of how the council can communicate better with the people of the borough has been going on since early 1998.

And plans are have been put in place for citizens' panels, focus groups and a young people's parliament to increase the level of communication between the public and council chiefs.

But the policy of not allowing members of the public to speak at meetings will be retained - although the situation may be reconsidered at a future date.

Committees such as planning and highways are the ones where members of the public often express a desire to speak about plans which directly affect their neighbourhoods.

Area committees based on neighbourhoods within the borough have also been rejected in favour of developing better links with community associations, parish councils and residents and tenants associations.

Pendle Council, based in Nelson, has already introduced such a system with committees in Nelson, Brierfield, Barnoldswick, Colne and Barrowford dealing with many council matters relating to those areas without the need for reference to a central committee.

Blackburn with Darwen Council rejected the idea of introducing a similar system on the grounds that the work required to set up such committees would be "prohibitive".

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