A CONTROVERSIAL stage at the Colne Rhythm and Blues festival could be scaled down after complaints about disorder and noise.

Proposals to alter the Up4it stage arose from the first meeting of a working group to review the stage and the wider festival.

The internationally-renowned festival, which attracts between 60,000 and 70,000 people, was criticised last year after residents and councillors complained that noise, anti-social behaviour and litter were spiralling out of control.

Pendle Council was also rapped by a government ombudsman and ordered to pay more than £1,000 to resident Jan Hubbard for failing to respond to her concerns about noise from the Up4it stage at the 2001 festival. The working group, made up of councillors representing the Colne area and council executive director (sevices) John Kirk, discussed various alternative locations for the Up4it stage, which were all rejected.

The current site in Exchange Street provided facilities for staff, backstage facilities and space for vans to load and unload equipment and was believed to affect a minimal number of people. Mr Kirk suggested the stage should not be included in this year's festival, but the suggestion was opposed by several members of the committee. An alternative suggestion was made to scale down the stage.

Coun Alan Davies also suggested the area around the stage could be made an alcohol-free zone.

The group will meet again on February 24 and March 8.