THE Labour group on Lancashire County Council has finally decided to abandon the Western M6 link to Heysham and adopt the Northern route. It has taken almost 10 years.

In 1995 HM Inspector to the Lancashire Structure Plan said the Western by-pass should be deleted and recommended that a Northern route should be built with an improved M6 junction - recommendations which were ignored by the Labour group.

In 1998 the county surveyor also recommended the adoption of the Northern route - a move supported by the Conservative and Liberal groups but again ignored by Labour.

Finally, in 2001, the inspector to the Lancaster local plan deleted the Northern route from the plan.

This chronic failure by the Labour group to take notice of advice from Government inspectors, the Government Office North West and the county surveyor has resulted in huge losses.

The 10-year delay in construction alone will result in increased costs of at least £25 million, while the county has also been unable to progress other schemes such as the Ormskirk by-pass (£20 million) and the A56 in East Lancs (£19.1 million).

By persisting with a route that was never going to get planning consent and putting it at the top of the county priority list, the Labour group effectively froze all other schemes in the county and as a result, not only Lancaster has suffered but the rest of the county.

The increased costs of the scheme and the loss of other ones amount to £65 million - an appalling indictment of a Labour group that totally failed to listen to its advisors and Government bodies.

County Cllr Tony Jones, Hornby.