MORE than 8,000 Padiham people have joined a campaign to ensure the town has a swimming pool -- and they have been backed by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

The future of the facilities came into question following a review of all the leisure centres in Burnley borough, launched in August.

The results of a consultation process launched last year are currently being compiled.

Various options were outlined ranging from refurbishing the borough's three main centres -- the Thompson Centre, Padiham Leisure Centre and Gannow Pool -- to building new pools in local schools or closing all three and building a new Burnley town centre facility.

But with the potential threat of closure looming the people of Padiham decided immediate action needed to be taken.

And today the Lancashire Evening Telegraph launched its own campaign to help them achieve their goal.

Carol Stinton, of Church Street, Padiham, who worked as a cashier at the Park Road centre when it first opened 30 years ago, formed the People of Padiham Action Group with other residents and launched a petition in October, which has been in every shop in the town as well as the the leisure centre.

Today her daughter Julie Redfearn, who works at the pool, said her mum was delighted by the response to the petition.

Julie, also of Church Street, said: "It has been brilliant, people have been coming in to the centre and asking to sign it and it is in all the shops in the town. There is still time for people to add their name before the petition is handed over to the council later this month."

The Mayor of Padiham, Coun Bob Clark, said: "We are determined that Padiham shall not be without a swimming pool and the facilities that go with it.

"Out of a population of about 10,000 in the town it just shows how strong the feeling is about this issue when there are 8,000 signatures on the petition.

"The town council is backing this campaign to the hilt - there is no way we will allow the baths to be taken from us."

The review is closely linked to Lancashire County Council's bid for £80million to build five new state-of-the-art schools, including community leisure facilities, the result of which will not be known until Monday, February 2.

He said: "There are various amounts of money that may or may not be coming for new schools and leisure facilities with it. If someone could guarantee that we were going to get a brand spanking new pool at one of these new school complexes, that would be available for public use at all times and not just out of school hours, then I think the people of Padiham would be happy."

Kevin Young, editor of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, said: "For 8,000 people to sign a petition is a remarkable demonstration of public opinion. As the paper at the heart of the community, we feel it is right to back this campaign and do our bit to ensure that Padiham does not lose vital swimming facilities.

"I would urge Burnley Council to pay strong attention to public feeling on this issue and do what is best for the people of Padiham."

The three main centres currently cost the council £780,000 a year in subsidy and are in decline in terms of the number of users and appearance.

Mick Cartledge, director for community and leisure services, said the council could not afford to stand still, as maintaining the facilities with no improvements would cost £8million over the next 20 years.

The leader of Burnley Council, Coun Stuart Caddy, said the executive would take on board the views of the public. He said: "We are waiting for the consultation period to end and will take all those views into consideration.

"But we also need to consider the financial implications of all the leisure centres. We will also have to wait and see what the result of the schools review will be."