FURIOUS councillors claim they have been excluded from decision making over the future of Smithills Hall. Council chiefs want to turn the hall and the surrounding estate into a tourist attraction. But councillors who represent the Smithills ward are angry that they have not been allocated places on a council committee to make decisions about the scheme.

All the ward councillors are Liberal Democrats and one, Cllr Roger Hayes, accused the Labour and Conservative groups on the council of having "a cosy arrangement" in allocating committee places.

He said at a Bolton Council meeting: "I cannot understand why ward councillors have been excluded from this." His colleague Cllr Mrs Carole Swarbrick added: "How can it be right or fair that ward councillors cannot have an input on decisions which affect local people?"

But Labour Cllr Gerald Riley, who represents the Halliwell ward, said that his area was more likely to be affected by traffic problems from people travelling to the hall than Smithills.

He said: "The greatest impact will be on Halliwell Road and if anyone should be represented, it should be Halliwell ward councillors."

Cllr Bob Howarth, Bolton Council leader, said that the authority would look again at the allocation of places.

Liberal Democrats also claimed that they were not getting their fair share of governorships at schools.

Cllr Mrs Barbara Ronson, group leader on Bolton Council, said: "There are some councillors who do not have any governorships at all in their ward."

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