A £50,000 APPEAL has been launched to appoint a task force to take over the fight for a road link between Whinney Hill tip and the M65.

The Observer reported in July that a last-ditch attempt was to be made to get the Highways Agency to consider a link road. But it is still shunning the idea following a meeting with council officers.

Now the Whinney Hill Working Group - which is made up of local and county councillors - has revealed it is hoping to set up a task force to keep up the pressure on the agency.

During a meeting of Huncoat Area Council this week, County Councillor Doreen Pollitt said: "During our last meeting in July we agreed to get our officers from highways and engineering to meet with the Highways Agency which is a Government body which oversees the motorway network.

"It was a very disappointing meeting and the response was negative. The agency is not for moving on having an access road off the M65. It is an agency that is going to take some shifting. But it will do because this is just the beginning of the process."

She told residents the next step would be to create a new agency to gather all the relevant information together, including an extensive traffic survey and air quality survey, to boost the case for a link road.

She said: "It will have to be a first-class document done by professionals because that's what we need to win this. We don't want to do it piece-meal ourselves, spending half an hour here and an hour there.

"We are looking at setting up this agency and it will cost £50,000. We can't move forward until we get this."

Chairman Councillor Brendan Shiel said: "It's reassuring to know we're going to have a proper committee set up and have a bit more direction. If we stick at it, we will get what we want."

Community action group REACH - which stands for Residents of Enfield, Altham, Clayton-le-Moors and Huncoat - has also been doing its bit by sending out dozens of letters to MPs, the Highways Agency and members of the European Parliament.

Chairman Geoffrey Wheat-man said: "I feel our input has been worthwhile and we have got to keep this campaign going. I feel we are achieving something."

The working group will stage its next meeting at the beginning of December.