KEY manufacturing areas should be in line for extra help from Europe, town hall leaders in Pendle will argue.

Council officials have put forward Brierfield, Bradley, Old Laund Booth and Barrowford as wards for Assisted Area Status (AAS).

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson lobbied for their inclusion in the EU aid programme, during a Westminster Hall debate.

While parts of Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley and Hyndburn were included in the last AAS map, which expires next year, no Pendle ward featured.

The approach taken by Pennine Lancashire authorities is to build a strategic corridor along the M65, with Whitebirk, Burnley Bridge, Junction 7, Blackburn Knowledge Zone and the Weavers’ Triangle.

But for Pendle to benefit there needs to be ‘full coverage’ of the corridor.

Julie Whittaker, economic regeneration manager, said in a report: “Up to 88,000 people are employed in the area, with over 25 per cent of all employment in manufacturing, with many more employed indirectly in support services, compared to less than nine per cent nationally.

“There are more than 5,300 businesses in the proposed area, predominantly small and medium-sized, with over 95 per cent of these employing fewer than 50 people.”

More than half of the county’s designated ‘top 150’ businesses in key sectors, are within the catchment area, employing 18,000 people, including many manufacturers.