A BURNLEY youth group which travelled almost 3,000 miles to collect a new home has been left devastated because they cannot afford to move in.

Briercliffe Residents Youth Group made almost 60, 52-mile round trips to the North Yorkshire village of Tosside to dismantle and transport an old village hall back to Burnley for their new premises.

But the group is so short of cash that it cannot pay to have the building put up despite the support of the parish council and the police in the area.

They need around £200,000 to get the building, which is being stored in bits on a local farm, fully up and running.

They have already raised £50,000 of the total through grants and various fundraising events.

The youth group was set up by volunteers in 2001 and now regularly boasts up to 40 youngsters turning up for its Friday night events.

However, the success has meant it has outgrown its current home in the Jubilee Street community centre and needs to move.

The new building would be based on the Queen Street recreation ground and would be shared with local football team, Briercliffe Rovers.

Chairman Steve Walton said the group was an excellent initiative to give youngsters in Briercliffe somewhere to go, but that funding was a real hurdle.

He said: "It has proved very hard to get funding mainly because Briercliffe does not qualify as a deprived area and so we do not meet a lot of the criteria for grant applications.

"However, what we are trying to do is really valuable for the area. Our aim in life is trying to promote better adults for the future.

"We seem to fall between two stools when we apply because if we apply on behalf of the youth group we are told we are not eligible because of the football team and vice-versa.

"We have got some applications in which we are hoping will be successful, but we daren't count our chickens."

Police Community Support Officer for Briercliffe and Harle Syke, Dave Johnson, helped set up the youth club and has given it his full backing.

He said the new building would be a great boost for the group. He said: "The fact that the youth of the area will have excellent facilities to be used even more regularly will give them something to do, help combat juvenile nuisance and promote community cohesion.

"This obviously can only be a good thing and has the backing of myself, the local police officer, and the community police section at Burnley."

Chairman of Briercliffe parish council Margaret Lishman said: "We are 100 per cent behind this scheme and it has our full support.

"We appreciate the fact that this is all about local people trying to find a solution to local problems."