A REVAMP of Bolton's area forums planned by the ruling Liberal Democrats lay in tatters today after opposition groups voted out their plans.

The Labour and Conservative parties on the council joined forces to shoot down proposals on an issue the Lib Dems have made one of their pet projects since taking control of the town hall earlier this year.

Instead, the opposition groups voted in their own ideas.

It left the Lib Dems seething. Cllr David Wilkinson, the Lib Dems' executive member for environment, accused the two groups of cooking up a deal.

The area forums, staged by the council, allow members of the public to quiz council leaders and have their say on issues affecting their community.

Under changes agreed by all parties, the number of forums will increase from six to nine and each will meet six times a year. But they disagreed on how the forums would be made up and which areas were best linked with others.

The Lib Dems put forward their own groupings of areas.

But every Labour and Tory member voted for an amendment which will see forums established in the following districts: Heaton, Lostock and Hulton; Farnworth and Kearsley; Bromley Cross and Bradshaw; Smithills and Astley Bridge; Horwich and Blackrod; Westhoughton and Chew Moor; the new Crompton ward and Halliwell; Tonge, the Haulgh, Breightmet, Little Lever and Darcy Lever; and one covering Rumworth, Great Lever and Harper Green.

Cllr Wilkinson claimed the Labour amendment was designed to secure favourable forum boundaries for both opposition groups and help them to tie up the chairmanships.

Labour and Tory councillors responded by accusing the Lib Dems of ignoring the will of the majority in trying to push ahead with their own plans.

With 21 seats, the Lib Dems are the largest group on the council but the two opposition parties, who both rejected a power sharing deal, together hold 39 seats.

Deputy council leader Cllr Roger Hayes, of the Lib Dems, warned the move would destroy the forums. His party considers the grouping of the areas unworkable.

He said: "We will do everything possible to make sure area forums work, but if they prove to be unpopular, as I think they will, we will make it clear who imposed them."