COUNCILLORS in Padiham are taking legal advice after hitting a stumbling block over a TV-backed river walk along the banks of the Calder.

Detailed examination of the river walk route - which scooped £50,000 of Big Lottery Fund money on a People's Millions programme in December - has found that a short stretch remains in private hands.

But members of Padiham Town Council, principal supporters of the ambitious Granada TV project are confident that the obstacle can be overcome.

The town council is calling on the services of legal lofficers from Burnley Borough Council to iron out the land issue.

Lottery officials need to be sure that the whole length of the walk is in public hands before the initiative can officially commence.

Town councillor Bob Clark said: "It is a problem which can quite easily be resolved, we believe.

"Padiham is quite a funny town in that historically most of it used to belong to the two big families in Padiham - the Shuttleworths and the Starkies.

"And all over the town there are still places which are still in private hands.

"It is just a hiccup and it should be something which we can sort out over the next few weeks with some assistance."

The river walk, which will see new benches, display boards and a pathway created along the banks of the Calder, stretches from the back of the town hall to the Bendwood Bridge, near Somerfield supermarket.

The Calder scheme was not the first bit of television good fortune to come to Padiham in recent times.

Proposals for a national cycleway route, which will run in part along the old Rosegrove to Padiham railway line, were awarded a multi-million pound grant under another show, the People's 50 Million, also shown in ITV.