RESIDENTS in Earby who want to see their neighbourhood improved are being urged to attend an event which will shape the future of their town.

The whole community is invited to voice their concerns and suggest ways Earby could be made more attractive to residents and visitors with the aim of securing funding for the town.

The Rural Evaluation and Action for Lancashire (REAL) Project, which consists of Community Futures, The Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Lancashire Co-operative Development Agency, works with villages to improve the quality of life by drawing up an action plan.

As Earby is a town and would require more work than a village, a grant of £5,000 has been made available by the Vital Villages Programme run by the Countryside Agency to give an additional boost to the project.

The cash is being used to organise an exhibition of Earby past and present at which residents will be asked for their views on what the town needs.

This will take place between 11am and 3pm, on Saturday, March 2, at the New Road Community Centre in Earby.

Parish councillor and member of the Earby Development Group, Pat Spenceley, hopes to make people aware that this project is Earby's one big chance.

She said: "The exhibition will be mainly photographs which will trigger people's memories of how Earby used to be and will encourage them to say how they would like to see it in the future. Maybe they would like to bring something back to the town that they have seen in the photograph.

"This is their chance to speak out about Earby and it is vitally important that people spare the time to go along. The people of Earby are very disenchanted about what is happening to the town. It's dying a slow death and we get a lot complaints as parish councillors, particularly about crime and vandalism. We are trying our best but we are not miracle workers.

"It's now up to the people to stand up and be counted."

Improvements suggested at a public meeting included a CCTV scheme, landscaping and planting more trees, a facelift for the shops on the main road, the refurbishment of the Earby council offices and the creation of cycle paths.

A questionnaire has also been delivered to every house in Earby which needs to be filled in and sent to the freepost address.

The results of the day and the questionnaires will be compiled in to an action plan which will then be used to bid for funding.

If there are any groups in the town who are willing to take part in the exhibition or if people have something to contribute to the exhibition, they should contact Pat on 01282 843651.