A LAST-DITCH bid to save Hartley Hospital has been launched by a group of Colne councillors.

Copies of a petition against the demolition of the landmark building are being circulated to all the houses in Colne and Foulridge to stir up public opinion against any move to flatten the former hospital.

It follows the decision by the Housing Corporation not to help fund an ambitious scheme to create a self-contained retirement "village" on the site for the over 55s.

The petition has been launched by local councillors Gill Gilhespy, David Clegg, Tony Greaves and Alan Davies.

Coun Gilhespy, a former mayor of Pendle, said it was time for local people to tell the owners and the "powers that be" that Hartley Hospital was too important to Colne to allow it to be pulled down.

"Whatever the legal position may now be about ownership no-one can get away from the fact that when Hartley Hospital was built it was given to the people of Colne for the benefit of the people of Colne," she said.

"That is the moral position and we still believe that efforts should be made to find a use that fits in with that.

"The best possible use seems to have been lost as a result of central Government and their officials in Manchester but we must still hope against hope that even at this late stage a good use can be found."

Campaigners fear the hospital will be bulldozed to make way for homes.

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