PENDLE Council has been offered a grant of £60,000 divided over three years from the English Heritage to develop a regeneration scheme in Barnoldswick.

Despite the amount being substantially lower than the £150,000 grant the council had hoped for, planning and regeneration officers are still eager to continue with the scheme, which is aimed at improving the town, repairing historic buildings and attracting more visitors in the aftermath of the foot and mouth crisis.

The council was hoping for £50,000 per year, which would be match funded by an equal amount from the Market Towns Initiative, creating a pot of £100,000 per year, which was considered essential if the water power heritage trail was to be developed.

Individual funding for the Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme (HERS) for the year 2002-2003 was lower than expected because of the high number of bids submitted to the English Heritage.

A further setback is that the Market Towns Initiative money, which is also aimed at regeneration, will not be available until the second year of the HERS.

Craven ward councillor David Whipp said: "We knew we weren't going to get the £50,000. Any funding we can get is welcome but the funding English Heritage has agreed is a bit limited for what we intended to do."

"We want people to come down the trail and see hand-loom weaving areas, they would then come past water-powered areas through Ousledale, then on to Bancroft Mill with its existing steam engine, through the town centre, and I would like to see a jet engine visitor centre at Rolls Royce as part of the scheme but that isn't part of the current funding passage."

The management team has suggested that the HERS should begin for the first year with £40,000, £20,000 from English Heritage and £20,000 match funding from the council, before building up the funding in years two and three to fund the heritage trail using money from the Market Towns Initiative.

This would mean making capital and revenue budget bids for the scheme, which would include the wages for one person running the scheme one day a week.

An implementation programme must be drawn up by the planning manager and submitted to English Heritage by January 2002 with the aim of starting a HERS in April 2002 subject to all the necessary agreements.

Members of the West Craven Committee, who will meet on Tuesday evening, have been recommended to report the matter to the Executive meeting on December 12, to request that the implementation programme is submitted and that capital and revenue budgets are made for the scheme.