TWO thousand people have signed a petition supporting a campaign to secure the future of East Lancashire's most popular tourist attraction.

The Friends of Pendle Heritage group is backing a campaign to Save Pendle Heritage Centre, which has suffered since council funding was slashed from £62,000 to just £10,000 this year.

The centre, at Park Hill, Barrowford, has been open for 25 years and attracted 102,000 visitors last year but plans for repairs and future improvements have been put on hold since the funding was cut in April.

The centre buildings are council owned but were renovated by the Heritage Trust for the North West, which runs the tourist information service at the site, the only one in East Lancashire to be open seven days a week.

Launched in April, the campaign urges people to sign a petition to encourage the council to give more financial support and to contribute to the running of the centre through voluntary work or donations.

When the funding cut was being decided earlier this year, HTNW director Ted Stanworth wrote to the council's executive stating it could jeopardise the long-term future of the trust's involvement with the Pendle Heritage Centre as the charity could not use money from other projects to support its work there.

A statement from the Save the Pendle Heritage Centre Campaign said: "The venue that draws the highest numbers gets the lowest grant. Is this fair? We don't think so.

"Therefore the Friends of Pendle Heritage have launched a campaign to encourage the newly-elected council to deal more fairly with this well-loved jewel in Pendle's crown and ensure it is not lost to the North West's rich and beautiful heritage."

Committee member David Penney, of William Street, Colne, said the campaign launch followed the trust's annual general meeting. So far, 2,000 signatures had been collected on the petition and the aim wasfor 10,000 by September.

He said: "Once the dust has settled after the election, we want to negotiate with whichever party controls Pendle. Over the years, different parties have been in power and there hasn't been a clear policy toward the heritage centre."