REGULAR users of Padiham Leisure Centre have been talking about why they will be supporting the campaign to ensure the town keeps its sports facilities.

Matt Marquis, 23, of Shakespeare Street, in Padiham, uses the gym and the swimming pool at the leisure centre at least four times a week.

He said: "I have been coming here for years, since I was young. It is important to keep the pool and leisure centre in the town because the facilities are within easy reach for people. They don't need a car to come down here."

Matt said Burnley Council should consider making improvements to the town's leisure facilities.

He said: "They shouldn't be getting rid of the centre, they should be thinking about refurbishing it. If they did a bit of work to it, maybe extended the gym, they would attract more people to use it and it would stop people going elsewhere."

Gary Bentley, 43, who works as a maintenance plumber at Mansfield High School, travels from Nelson to use the centre.

He said: "I come over and use the pool and sauna twice a week. The facilities here are better than Nelson. I was going to go to the Thompson Centre in Burnley, but parking is difficult there. The staff here are also very friendly.

"I signed the petition to keep the pool in Padiham and will continue to use it every week."

Husband and wife Christine and Ken Bailey, of Marsden Court, Burnley, swim at Padiham at least once a week.

Christine, 51, who works at Sainsbury's in Burnley, said: "We have been coming here for more than 20 years. Of all the pools in the area, this is the nicest one and it doesn't get as crowded at the Thompson Centre. We really enjoy coming here and the staff are friendly too."

The future of Padiham pool came into question following a review of all the borough's leisure facilities by Burnley Council in August last year in response to the rising cost of subsidising them and the drop in the number of people using them.

Maintaining the three main centres - the Thompson Centre, Padiham Leisure Centre and Gannow Pool - with no improvements would cost £8million over the next 20 years.

In the review various options were outlined, ranging from refurbishing the three centres to building new pools in local schools or closing all three and building a new Burnley town centre facility.

These have been put out to public consultation and the council's executive committee is due to discuss the future of the centres later this month.

But Padiham people have already jumped to the defence of their pool and more than 8,000 have signed a petition to ensure that the town has a swimming pool.