PENDLE is leading the way when it comes to rural regeneration - by cashing in on government schemes to boost the countryside economy.

In 1995-6 the borough received £100,000 - more than any other Lancashire district - in grants from the Rural Development Commission (RDC).

Pendle is at the forefront of an RDC campaign to strengthen rural communities by protecting services and giving money to help industry in areas whose economies have become fragile.

Earby's training resource centre, which trains West Craven people in computer skills, is one of the county's leading RDC-funded projects.

Commission money was used to convert a disused building and help the scheme get off the ground.

The RDC's chairman, Lord Shuttleworth, was full of praise for schemes like the Earby one in his annual speech at the commission's London HQ.

He said development could be made without harming the countryside environment, contrary to what many environmental campaign groups claimed.

He said: "Far from concreting over England, we have actually been very successful in managing our landscape in the context of many other pressures in a small and crowded country.

"There are huge areas of countryside which are an impressive testament to that.

"I find great understanding of environmental issues and great determination to adopt best environmental preactive wherever I go."

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