PLAY equipment which experts condemned as dangerous was dubbed "high-quality" in a Pendle Council audit, a parish councillor said.

Laneshawbridge parish councillor Jerry Stanford told Pendle Council's Colne and District Committee that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) had deemed the village's play facilities dangerous around 18 months ago.

But in the children and young people's play area strategy, adopted last year, the play facilities were described as high-quality, and were not due for improvement under the scheme until 2010. Coun Stanford accused the borough council of failing to work properly with Lancashire County Council, which owns the land, and the parish council, to make the improvements needed.

He said: "Officers have always known about the problems there and whether or not they have the appropriate papers is beside the point.

"We have still got children playing on equipment that is unsafe."

Parish councillors and residents in Laneshawbridge have also campaigned for two years to fence off the area from dogs and improve drainage on the football pitch.

Cash has been available since April to update the play equipment, thanks to money from developers as part of planning permission for new housing, but the work cannot start yet because agreement has not yet been reached over Pendle Council's tenancy of the land from the county council.

The last lease ran out in 2003, but has been held over until now. A row has erupted between the two councils, with Pendle accusing Lancashire of failing to send through a notice to quit the tenancy and the county claiming the borough has not responded to requests for negotiation.

Leader of Pendle Council Alan Davies said at the meeting: "It would be nonsense for us to spend tens of thousands of pounds until such time as we know that there is a lease we can have for a sensible period of time.

"I see no reason at all why it can't be carried out in a month. It's ridiculous the length of time it has taken and I hope at the next meeting we can make a very clear commitment to this project."

County Councillor Mike Calvert, who has led the negotiations on behalf of the authority, said a meeting would be held next week with council representatives and Laneshawbridge Primary School, and whatever was decided there would form the basis of the new lease.