PLANS to twin Pendle with a town in the West Bank in Palestine have now been made official.

Pendle’s mayor, Coun Asjad Mahmood, accepted the invitation to become president of the Pendle Palestine Twinning Group (PPTG) and signed the letter of confirmation to approve the link between Pendle and Beit Leed.

The proposal to formalise a twinning arrangement with a town Pendle has had cultural exchanges with in the past was first made towards the end of last year, as a way of showing solidarity with the victims on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Pendle councillors voted in favour of the twinning last December, but not before complaints about whether the council was the right forum to debate the issue and concerns about how the move would be funded.

Richard MacSween, chairman of the PPTG, said: “It’s great that the mayor has agreed to do this and shows Pendle Council is serious about the twinning.

“Our group is doing all the administrative work involved and there is no cost whatsoever to Pendle Council or the taxpayer.

“In fact, any money we receive is voluntarily donated by the public and I’m glad to say many people have been very happy to contribute.

“This is an ambitious project for us but will show what twinning can achieve.

“We are grateful to all those people, including, of course, Pendle councillors who support this twinning and can see the benefits it will bring.”

Coun Joe Cooney, Pendle Council leader, said: “I have never had any problem with Pendle twinning with and forging links with Beit Leed, but I thought there were more important issues for the council to be dealing with at the time.”

An informal arrangement has existed between Beit Leed and Pendle for several years, with cultural exchanges taking place.

On June 24, Palestinian and UK students will be coming to Pendle for several days and working together on a project to help links between the two countries.