EAST Lancashire’s multi-million pound bus lane has been snubbed by ministers - and a council leader admitted the scheme was ‘dead’.

The government has refused to give the green light to the £50million Pennine Reach scheme, despite rubber-stamping a string of other transport projects.

Instead it has been left to fight for a share of a new £600million pot for major transport schemes.

Council bosses accept this means there is no chance of securing the £50 million for the bus lane, which would have linked Blackburn, Darwen and Hyndburn.

Council leader Kate Hollern said: “Pennine Reach has gone. It’s dead. It’s very much in the long grass.”

A scaled-back version could still be developed, but there are no immediate plans on the horizon as cash-strapped Blackburn with Darwen and Lancashire County Council would have to up their contributions.

But the long-awaited link from the port of Heysham to the M6, which had been expected to suffer the same fate as Pennine Reach, was given the go-ahead by the Department for Transport.

Pennine Reach was put forward by Blackburn with Darwen Council’s previous administration as a solution to the build-up of traffic on the A666 corridor.

The dedicated bus lane was extremely controversial, with residents, particularly in Darwen, claiming they would lose their parking spaces, and a ‘no to the bus lane’ campaign was formed.

Earlier this month the Lancashire Telegraph revealed £1.5million had already been spent on the plans, which were given the goahead by the previous Labour government.