WHEN it comes to celebrating and promoting the heritage of the area, Burnley it would seem has got it sussed.

A heritage index produced in conjunction with the Heritage Lottery Fund ranks Burnley as the 33th best council area in the country when it comes to promoting its heritage and engaging people in the town – up 167 places from the previous survey.

Given the rich heritage that the whole of East Lancashire enjoys, good as Burnley’s performance is, it is a perhaps a surprise that the rest of the area is faring less well.

Ribble Valley actually fell down the list to 177th, Hyndburn went up 150 places to 123rd, Blackburn was 148th, Rossendale 141st and Pendle 215th out of the 325 councils surveyed.

There is no shortage of heritage in the area - from historic halls to its associations with the Industrial Revolution – so the raw material is readily available.

Understanding where we have come from and what we have achieved is part of developing a community identity but, as all the councils will point out, a co-ordinated heritage police comes at a cost So, interesting as the survey is, perhaps the Heritage Lottery Fund could come up with extra cash to help out.