MULTI-MILLION pound plans for Clitheroe Castle should see the Norman monument survive for another 1,000 years.

That is the promise being made by Ribble Valley Council leader John Hill, who has urged councillors to get behind the project.

Ribble Valley Council has launched a £500,000 fund-raising drive to support its £2million bid to the National Lottery to fund the scheme.

It will find out in December if the bid has been successful.

If so, a further £250,000 has been pledged by Clitheroe the Future on behalf of the North West Development Agency, along with further pledges from other organisations, taking the cost of the scheme to £3million.

If completed, the facelift will include a new entrance between the Castle Museum and the North West Sound Archive, a cafe and new exhibition space.

Further work will include ensuring the Castle Keep, built in 1186 and the smallest in Britain, is structurally sound.

Coun Hill said: "If successful, the campaign will involve every section of the community in a mammoth effort to ensure one of Ribble Valley's premier heritage sites enjoys a new lease of life for the next 1,000 years.

We want to turn the Castle into a premier wet-weather attraction and the campaign is now up and running."

Work on the keep includes refurbishing the stonework and making it structurally sound.

Hundreds of years of battling the elements has left the keep in need of improvement, while in recent years it has faced a new enemy -- teenage vandals.

Last year, young thugs began ripping rocks from the keep and rolling them down the 30ft embankment into the path of cars and visitors, putting lives at risk.

Their actions mirror a form of attack used over the centuries to protect the tower and its wealthy inhabitants from invaders.

A police clampdown solved the problems.

The rocks the thugs used came from both the mound on which the keep was built and the castle walls.

Plans for improving the Castle area have been on the cards for several years, but a previous bid for £1million of lottery cash was rejected.

Other ideas could be explored in the future too, with the council suggesting that a terraced restaurant with views over Pendle Hill could be a winner one day.

The first meeting of the Keepers of the Clitheroe Castle support group takes place tonight.

The council's tourism and arts officer, Rebecca Kay, who is spearheading the campaign, said: "Ribble Valley is crying out for a prime wet-weather attraction

"We want to turn Clitheroe Castle into a place that people will visit for a day, not just an hour.

"We are looking for people who are enthusiastic about heritage and may have campaigning skills to join the steering group and play a part in what we believe is the biggest community campaign ever seen in Clitheroe."

l Tonight's meeting takes place at Clitheroe Castle Museum from 6pm. For more information, ring 01200 414496.