ONE of East Lancashire's last remaining independent cinemas, threatened with closure, has been saved by a chairman's casting vote.

Members of Ribble Valley Council's community committee were asked last night to close Clitheroe Civic Hall Cinema after more than 60 years of movies.

They were split by nine votes to nine on a proposal by one councillor to keep the cinema open while feasibility studies are conducted by interested parties into its future.

But another argued the council was virtually handing out £10 notes to everyone using the venue.

Ribble Valley Council sports and arts officer Chris Hughes said the cinema was now being heavily subsidised.

"If we continue to operate as a stand-alone cinema, expenditure is likely to increase with no real prospect of an increase in income," he said. "The likely net subsidy of running the cinema for a further 12 months will be £42,630. Given that the annual income target is £20,640, there is likely to be a significant shortfall."

Coun Peter Redpath said it wasn't the responsibility of local authorities to run cinemas and claimed Ribble Valley Council was "pouring money into a bottomless pit".

"We are virtually giving £10 to every person who buys a £3 cinema ticket there," he said. "We have spent over £150,000 on the cinema in four years and could utilise that kind of money for the benefit of far more people. We should face up to the fact that we are pouring money into a bottomless pit and should have the political courage to close the cinema rather than let it run on and on."

But chairman Graham Sowter claimed the venue might find success as an arts cinema with effective marketing.

"Instead of apeing what the multiplexes do, we should perhaps change tack," he said.

Clitheroe councillor Bert Jones, 78, who has battled to keep the cinema open, told the meeting: "We can't go on for evermore, but a lot of these new ideas should be pursued. Yes, we will be taking a gamble, but it will be a worthwhile gamble. This venue deserves a last chance."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.