PEOPLE living in Whitworth have been assured that services will not be affected by the transfer of responsibility to Rossendale Council.

Rossendale leader Coun John McManus said there would be no job losses and, although the running of the baths, civic hall, town hall and grounds maintenance, was under new management, they should not notice any difference.

The move followed the disappearance of former town council clerk Gerry Taylor and £140,000 of the authority's cash.

Mr McManus said: "This is not like the hand-over of Hong Kong! There will be no big celebrations.

"If Whitworth had not wanted an extra £70,000 to run the services we would have decided against control. We worked out we could run them more efficiently."

"We made two promises. First, to look after the services at least as well and hopefully better than they have been.

"Second, we are going to look after the people working there and no-one has been made redundant. We have worked out reorganisation packages and conditions are not going to change drastically." Fees for the services are being kept the same although Coun McManus said they would be reviewed in the next financial year, in consultation with the parish council, and possibly brought into line with other borough fees over a period of time.

Whitworth has repaid some of the £140,000 which was discovered missing from the budget at the same time as the former town clerk disappeared.

The town council also incurred a £14,000 bill for the costs of a High Court action it took to try and stop Rossendale taking back control.

Coun McManus said: "We can't write off this debt and are currently waiting for the final accounts to be prepared so that the district auditor can examine them and we can work out a way forward."

The town will still have its own parish council, which will be able to raise a precept on the council tax of all residents.

Work has begun on £64,000 of repairs needed to Whitworth Baths and a new playground being built next to the civic hall should be ready in a couple of months.

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