LANCASHIRE'S red rose has been dropped from public buildings in a border town - because locals who consider themselves Yorkshire folk keep stealing them!

County council leader Hazel Harding today revealed she had put the order out to staff after being told that they were constantly having to replace signs.

She believes the signs have been taken by people in the town who still consider the area to be part of Yorkshire, despite the fact it was added to Lancashire in a shake-up of county boundaries in 1974.

The move was today welcomed by those in the town, and by campaigners fighting for the restoration of traditional county boundaries, which would see a large chunk of Pendle pass back into the while rose county.

Coun Harding said: "We have stopped the use of the red rose on buildings like the library in Barnoldswick, simply because they kept being stolen.

"We think it is because a lot of people there still see themselves as being from Yorkshire, and probably don't like the red rose on buildings.

"We don't want to antagonise the situation, and if there was a future review of boundaries, I'm sure there will be an argument over where Barnoldswick goes."

In the 1800s, much of what is now the Ribble Valley and Pendle belonged to Yorkshire. Earby, Barnoldswick, Waddington and other areas of Bowland were all included, but have slowly crossed the border since.

Yorkshire societies were granted permission to put up signs last year marking the traditional boundary on roads in East Lancashire. For years, there had been unoffical signs.

The Friends of Real Lancashire, The Yorkshire Ridings Society and the Unite Craven groups paid for the new signs, with the blessing of Lancashire County Council.

Campaigners wanting to unite the old West Riding area again have covered up the red rose on other signs for years.

Christopher Dawson, from the Friends of Real Lancashire, said: "I think this is a very wise move by the county council because they don't want to antagonise the situation. Many people in the Barnoldswick consider themselves to be from Yorkshire and are proud of that fact. I think this is a sensible decision."

Barnoldswick county councillor David Whipp said: "This is a sensible decision but I am not aware of cases of these roses going missing. It is a more a case that they adopt the natural hue of their native soil once here.

"To be honest, the area does use the ongoing war of the roses to put itself on the map, but this is sensible."