THE popular Burnley National Blues Festival is facing the axe amid concerns about the costs of staging the annual event.

Councillors will tonight discuss a feasibility study on the future of the Easter festival, which started as a unique event in 1989 but has since been copied in other areas.

Although popular it has only ever broken even once.

The festival is currently subsiding every ticket purchaser to the tune of £18 and many of those attending are not local council tax payers.

Holding the event over the Easter weekend increases costs because of the two bank holidays.

The feasibility study is due to be discussed in private by Burnley's recreation and leisure services committee.

Options include re-investing the resources put into the Burnley National Blues Festival to provide a greater choice of popular entertainment for the community at affordable prices.

That is believed to include a blues weekend, a rock weekend, a folk 'n' roots weekend, a comedy weekend and a weekend aimed at children becoming involved in a creative event.

Councillors will also consider the possibility of increasing resources to the existing festival to maintain its status as a national event.

A third option would be to continue running the festival on the current level of resources and reduce the quality of artistes to stay within budget levels.

Moving the date to the May Day bank holiday weekend would also give more consistency to the event, councillors will be told.

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