Transport bosses have abandoned work on the contentious Pennine Reach bus lane scheme.
Lancashire County Council will only resume the £50m bus lane project, linking Hyndburn with Blackburn and Darwen, if they are given the go-ahead by a Department for Transport spending review.
If the scheme is scrapped it could leave plans for a new Accrington bus station in tatters, as well as changes to Great Harwood town square.
Lancashire County Council (LCC) and partners Blackburn with Darwen council have been warned they will shoulder any "financial risk" of continuing the project.
An LCC spokesman said: "The county council has decided to halt work on the Pennine Reach project while the government carries out a spending review of all major transport schemes in the country. We are expecting an announcement on the future of the project once the review has been completed in the autumn."
Hyndburn Council opposed the proposals when they were first proposed by then Labour-run county hall in summer 2008. But council leader Peter Britcliffe has vowed to fight for the bus station, which the council has long argued should be dealt with independently of the rapid bus scheme.
Controversy surrounded stretches of bus lanes on Whalley Road in Clayton-le-Moors and Blackburn Road, Rishton, for buses travelling to Great Harwood.
Clayton firms expressed fears that the removal of on-street parking could hurt trade, while residents complained about spaces being removed from outside homes.
In Great Harwood, a lay-by, bus shelter, cycle stands, seating and raised steps would have been introduced at Town Hall Square, as well as the removal of the cobbled area around the famous clock tower.
Community campaigner Ian Wilkinson has strongly opposed the resurfacing of the cobbles, which he felt would not be in keeping with the area.
If the scheme is shelved, though, it will not affect a £500,000 revamp of Great Harwood’s historic town hall.
