KNOWSLEY council launched a scathing attack on rival plans to breathe new life into Skelmersdale.

In his closing arguments, John Barrett, for Knowsley Council, claimed West Lancs Council’s plans were dead in the water and accused them of hypocrisy.

He said West Lancs and developer St Modwen’s were by- passing the same planning guidelines that they criticised Knowsley for "arrogantly ignoring".

Mr Barrett said: "They are promoting a significant increase in retail floor space and a repositioning of Skelmersdale which could fall outside the development plan process, whilst criticising Knowsley Council for wishing to do the same at Kirkby."

Neighbouring West Lancs has argued that Destination Kirkby posed a "them or us" poser for the inspector – either Skelmersdale would be regenerated or Kirkby.

But Mr Barrett tore into assertions that Skelmersdale’s plans had more merit as they had gone through the proper development process. He said: "A persistent theme of the case of the Combined Authorities is that the St Modwen’s proposals for Skelmersdale have been put forward through the Statutory Development Plan process.

"Even a cursory examination of that proposition demonstrates that it is inaccurate."

The council’s own planning policies came before St Modwen’s proposed scheme, he said, and make it clear that future development should not increase the "scale and function" of the town.

However, the revamp plans would see Skelmersdale’s growth mirror the Kirkby scheme, he added.

Regeneration of Skelmersdale was extremely unlikely anyway, he suggested.

He said: "St Modwen’s, in truth, does not have a proposal. There is no application for retail and residential development."

Quoting from West Lancs council’s own press releases, Mr Barrett said their plans relied on housing development.

"The reason it will not succeed in the near future has nothing to do with Kirkby," he said.

"It’s floating face down in the water because of the collapse in the housing market."

Mr Barrett also used his closing submission to make the case that Destination Kirkby met the underlying principles of the various planning guidelines from Government. In fact, areas like Kirkby with greatest need for regeneration were precisely those places that planning laws pointed councils towards improving, he argued.

He also denied the allegation that Knowsley had simply sat around and waited for decent planning applications to land in its lap.

The council had been proactive, the inspector was told, and the lack of a proper supermarket in the town was evidence that there was a stigma that only a massive step change like Destination Kirkby could overcome.