BRITISH transport police have told pedestrians and cyclists who use a stretch of railway land to be careful, following the announcement that a subway is to be permanently closed.

Langs Subway, which links Crossland Street and Dale Street, in Accrington, was first closed in 1996 but planning permission has now been granted to fill in the subway with concrete, which means it will never be reopened.

Today, police urged those who use the national cycle route which runs alongside the track between the Accrington station and Church and Oswaldtwistle not to be tempted to cross the railway.

Sgt Alan Worden said: "There have been too many incidents where people have been killed or very badly injured just by taking a short-cut and we hope that people will see common sense and take the longer way over the line."

The nearest crossing is at Willows Lane, 120 metres away.

The former subway was closed in 1996 because of flooding which could not be properly drained through the man hole in the underpass.

Recent tests also showed flooding would have a detrimental effect on the main structure of the underbridge and there was already corrosion present.

Agents for Railtrack said replacement and maintenance work would involve long-term capital costs and disruption to the service and applied for planning permission to fill in the subway, which has been granted.

Winifred Frankland, chairman of Hyndburn Council's development services committee, said: "It looks wholly undesirable and the sooner it closes the better."

But members of Accrington Church and Great Harwood Partnership objected to the plans on the grounds that there was no safe crossing along the railway and accidents had occurred in recent years.

In a report, Brendan Lyons, head of planning, said when the subway was open it was extensively abused and two major clearout operations removed tonnes of fly tipping, including hypodermic waste.

He added: "While I accept that re-opening the link is desirable, there is no guarantee that refusal of this application would result in the re-opening of the subway."