PENDLE'S first Local Nature Reserve could be established in Colne on Thursday.

Upper Ball Grove Lodge has already attracted more than £20,000 towards its bid to become a LNR and applications have been made for almost £50,000 more to improve the site.

It is hoped the project will bring the local community together around a focal point and provide jobs and educational opportunities.

Cash was secured from English nature in 2002 to install a pump to maintain a wetland habitat where a variety of species could flourish.

Other funding will enhance the area and make it an accessible and educational facility for the borough.

Money is also needed to create and improve footbaths and boardwalks and to erect interpretation boards.

The official paperwork to designate the area as a LNR will go before councillors on the Colne and District Committee on Thursday with a recommendation that the plans be approved.

The council is already seeking to recruit a park ranger who could help set up a community group in Boulsworth and Waterside for friends of the park, an idea backed by the Pond Conservation Trust.

Officers hope the reserve will be used by disabled people, environmental enthusiasts, schools and residents as well as boosting tourism and local business.

Work would be carried out by an Environmental Action Group, which helps socially-excluded young people back into society and work.

A report to councillors states the reserve "will create an area for the wider public to gain environmental, cultural, historical and conservation awareness; learn the need for continual conservation of such; experience and preserve such an area for future generations and provide an outdoor teaching environment".