THE leaders of Burnley and Pendle councils are to hold a meeting with a Government minister to plead their case for a breakaway authority.

The councils were told last month that their proposals to split from Lancashire County Council and form a unitary authority had been rejected because of Whitehall concerns about the delivery of services across the county.

Now the leader of Burnley Council Gordon Birtwistle and Alan Davies, leader of Pendle Council, are to meet with Local Government Minister Phil Woolas to clarify why the bid was turned down.

Burnley council chief executive Steve Rumbelow said everyone involved in putting the bid together had been disappointed at the decision not to let the council's go through to the next stage of the process.

He said: "We were disappointed and thought it was a missed opportunity by the Government. We particularly want to look at how the bid was evaluated and specifically how we managed to get a low score in the service delivery category because of the impact on the rest of Lancashire.

"We were also surprised that the effect on the county was considered at this stage, rather than at the consultation stage, which is the second part of the process."

Councillors in Pendle voted at a full council meeting earlier this month to apply for a judicial review into the decision.

Council leader Alan Davies told members that the borough risked being swallowed up by Lancashire County Council if it did not continue its fight.

He said the two councils had put in a strong proposal and those which had got through to the next stage had been given an equal or lower points score to Burnley and Pendle.