BURNLEY'S waste recycling 'farce' is jeopardising Lancashire's record, it was claimed today.

New Government figures reveal the county was in the national top 10 for dealing with waste last year.

But Burnley was today described as Lancashire's recycling weakest link by Liberal Democrat leader Coun Gordon Birtwistle. And he said abandonment of a kerbside collection in the town could hamper Lancashire's chances of improving on its good record.

He added: "Every other authority in the county has succeeded in its recycling aims apart from Burnley which has failed. Next year's figures are an unknown quantity because nobody knows what recycling schemes will be running in Burnley." Government figures also show that Lancashire now recycles and composts twice as much as it did in 1999/2000. But Burnley's kerbside collections were scrapped earlier this year. Recycling bosses at the council have now been quizzed as part of an internal inquiry to find out why.

Coun Birtwistle said: "Lancashire now has a great record on recycling, apart from in Burnley which is a complete farce."

But County Councillor Brian Johnson, cabinet member for urban and rural regeneration at County Hall, said: "Thanks to the hard work of our residents and council staff across Lancashire we are one of the best performing areas in the country.

"We now recycle or compost 20 per cent of all waste in the county compared to the national average of 14.5 per cent.