A RIBBLE Valley councillor last night condemned a bid to save Clitheroe's Civic Cinema as a charade.

Simonstone councillor John Hill said that the £100,000 grant application by the Trinity Community Partnership, which is in the process of buying the York Street cinema with the backing of the John and Rosemary Lancaster Charitable Foundation, was almost blackmailing Ribble Valley Borough Council by "asking for their money back."

Councillors agreed to offer the partnership only a fraction of the sum.

Coun Hill said the application implied that the council had to come up with the money over three years, otherwise the cinema could face a long period of closure.

He appealed to other members of council's community committee and the press to "see through the charade".

Coun Hill said Trinity blamed the shortage of cash to get the cinema in operation from April 1 on the drawn-out selling process and said the partnership knew there was no money in the kitty to open the cinema.

"Are we to believe that a delay of six months would have been long enough to raise a shortfall of £35,000? There are no details, no itemised bills. They are saying give us our money back. We should all see through this charade.

"The way forward is that the new owner should fill their obligations, then we can review grant aid," he said.

Many of the councillors agreed that the application was premature and the amount excessive, but wished to offer their support.

Councillors Graham Sowter and Frank Dyson said they were disappointed at Coun Hill's remarks.

After an hour-long debate they agreed to pay up to £25,000 for specific projects.

It was also agreed that the sale of the cinema should go ahead under the Lancaster Foundation, which will lease the building to Trinity, and that a working group should relay information between the council and Trinity.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.