ONE of Blackburn's best-loved sporting facilities is under threat after a council bid to get money for an upgrade was rejected.

According to councillors, Witton Park's synthetic pitches are used by 100,000 people every year and generate £80,000 for the borough.

But the future of the pitches now hangs in the balance after a plea for cash was dismissed and diverted to another project in Blackburn.

Last February, the council revealed it needed £310,000 because it said the pitches needed to be replaced. A report stated they were put in place in the 1980s and had a life-expectancy at the time of just 10 years.

Ongoing repairs have kept the pitches usable until now, but neither pitch meets safety standards expected of brand new pitches.

The bid was made to the Football Foundation - whose funding partners include the Premier League, the Government, Sport England and the Football Association - for cash help.

But the money was awarded to Blackburn St Bede's RC High School, which was recently given sports college status.

It is understood several of the leagues and teams which use the pitches, including hockey and football, have complained about the state of the pitches.

But Coun Kate Hollern, Blackburn with Darwen's cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport, said the council was confident money for an upgrade in Witton would be secured soon and that other funding sources were being looked at.

She added: "I am quite confident we will secure funding for this work."

Tory councillor Fred Slater accused the ruling Labour group of trying to cover the story up at a meeting of the full council.

"With something like this where £80,000 of revenue is brought into the council and 100,000 people use it regularly people should be told if we lose a grant", he said.

Coun Slater spoke out after discovering that the news had not been included in a round-up of the council's leisure and culture department.

Although Coun Slater insisted Coun Hollern was not to blame he added: "We shouldn't be ashamed of saying when we have lost out.

This is an item of news and should have been presented at this council meeting. We are not just here to tell people about the bad things. People have a right to know."

Coun Hollern added: "If the funding is not secured the news will be on my next report because it would be an absolute tragedy if we didn't.

"A lot of the work we do does not go on reports, but that is nothing to do with trying to hide bad news. The money is still coming into the borough, but not where we wanted it."

"This is my number one priority and I am looking at a number of ways to get the money to do the work."