A SENIOR Lancashire county councillor has admitted that plans for an access road to a proposed recycling facility in Huncoat are "daft".

But Coun Tony Martin said that until the Government agreed to create a new access off the M65, it was the best solution the county could come up with to relieve heavy traffic through the village.

The county council plans to build the new waste treatment facility on the former Huncoat power station site, despite opposition from residents who marched through the village at the weekend in protest.

The access road, which forms part of the plans, will run from the junction of Burnley Road with the A56 through protected green belt land and will take an expected 544 daily heavy goods vehicle movements .

Coun Martin said the county had lobbied the Highways Agency, Government Office North West and Department for Transport for a new motorway junction, but had got nowhere.

The idea has been blocked by the Highways Agency because of a rule stating that junctions should be more than two miles apart - but this can be overturned in special circumstances.

Coun Martin said: "The access road is a daft plan. It is going to go through green belt, it will run parallel with the by-pass and will sweep along the back of the motorway and I think it is stupid to put a road alongside two roads that already exist. But at the moment it is the best solution.

"We have made the case that there are exceptional circumstances. At the moment we have been told to go away, but county officers have been making the case to civil servants."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope is awaiting a response from roads minister Stephen Ladyman after requesting a meeting on the issue.

He said: "If the proposals for the waste plant have to go ahead, and I don't think they should, it is ridiculous that as well as the burden of having another waste facility on their doorsteps, people in Huncoat will also face the burden of an access which cuts through precious green belt land.

"The Highways Agency has been too strict in the interpretation of its own guidelines.

"It is clear that a new motorway access or a modification of junction eight would save the green belt and solve the traffic problems."