HAULAGE bosses have been handed a certificate saying they can use a controversial coal yard in Westhoughton.

But members of the town council are furious after discovering they were not consulted -- because of a computer glitch.

Council leader David Wilkinson said: "We have been told a computer error was to blame. This stinks."

Bristol-based firm EH Bennett has been trying to open a coal depot at the former Co-op yard in Manchester Road, Chequerbent, for the past two years.

Bolton Council's planning chiefs turned down the company's first application for a Certificate of Lawful Use in December, 2000 after consulting Westhoughton's councillors.

The planners said they could not grant it because the firm had not provided enough information about its proposals.

But they granted the certificate on the November 14 last year, after receiving a second application containing more information.

The decision was made on a day when the planners were also deciding whether to stop the firm opening a similar coal yard in Blackrod.

They turned the Blackrod proposal down that week after residents protested.

Cllr Wilkinson said: "It seems very strange that Bolton Council did not consult us about Chequerbent and that the decision was made as people were trying to stop the firm from using a site in Blackrod.

"If we had been consulted we might have been able to say why we felt the Chequerbent coal yard should not be opened."

Bolton Council has now written to Westhoughton Town Council in a bid to clear up the matter.

Peter Wilson, director of Bolton's central services department, said: "I acknowledge that the town council was not consulted by the planning department on the second application.

"This was due to a computer error for which the director of environment apologises. This error also led to the decision not being included on the list of planning decisions.

"I should add that the borough council is not under a legal obligation to consult the town council on applications of this sort."

Bolton Council's environmental health section is now looking at whether to grant EH Bennett a licence to operate the Chequerbent yard under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The firm needs this licence before the yard can be opened. Members of the public could be asked what they think of the EH Bennett's proposals in the near future.