RESIDENTS who claim their lives are being made hell by barking dogs at a nearby farm have been advised to keep a daily diary of the alleged nuisance.

People living in Skipton Road, Earby, claim they can hear the rottweilers kept at Bailey Bank Stables barking at all hours of the day and night. They previously submitted a petition to Pendle Council's West Craven committee calling for action to stop the noise, and committee members were presented with a report when they met again this week.

However that report, from the environmental services manager, said four separate and unannounced visits had been made by council officers, and no dogs were heard barking during any of those visits.

Claims had also been made that the premises were being used for kennelling, even though a planning application for a boarding kennels was refused in 1989.

But the report said there was no evidence to support that claim. The premises were being used for breeding dogs, but the occupier had a licence for that.

Speaking at Tuesday's meeting, one of the residents said their main concern was still the amount of noise generated by the dogs. He said they often barked at 2am and continued for up to 90 minutes.

Often the dogs would bark at other dogs being exercised on the adjacent recreation ground, and he questioned the safety of keeping rottweilers so near to an area used by children. Finally, the residents' spokesman said he had a copy of a letter dating from 1991 in which a senior Pendle Council officer gave an assurance that the premises would not be used as a boarding kennels or any other similar use.

Richard Whittle, the council's environmental services manager, confirmed a licence for dog breeding had been granted. Planning permission would be needed for a boarding kennels, he said, but there was no evidence that that was happening. The main issue was the alleged noise nuisance, and if the council was to take action it would first need proof.

He said it was particularly difficult to investigate complaints of barking dogs as the noise was sporadic, but from the four visits so far there was no evidence to support further investigation.

But Mr Whittle added: "We are quite happy to investigate but we want to make our visits worthwhile and for that we rely on information from the residents."

Earby councillor Doris Haigh suggested that they each noted down when the barking happened, how long it lasted and so on, for a period of around two weeks. That could then be passed to Mr Whittle who, if necessary, could organise some "officer input".

"We all know there are times when dogs bark, but if there's a nuisance happening at unsocial hours we do need to know about it," she said.

Members will consider the matter again at a future meeting and also requested more information about the breeding licence.

l At an earlier meeting of Earby Parish Council, the owner of Bailey Bank, Mr Sutcliffe, denied his dogs were barking at unsocial hours or for long periods of time. "Yes they do bark sometimes, they're dogs, but not like these people are saying. If the dogs were barking and causing a nuisance, I'd hold my hand up to it," he said.

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