PLANS for a multi-million-pound regional watersports centre for East Lancashire are dead in the water, it was revealed today.

A funding shortfall means the plans for the £3.6m Red Rose Rapids at Padiham Weir have been abandoned, three years after they were mooted.

The facility would have been only the fourth of its kind in Britain - the other three are in Northampton, Teesside and Nottingham - and would have been a major attraction for the area.

It would have consisted of a canoe slalom course, canoe run and changing and training facilities.

News that the European Regional Development Fund would not be putting any cash into Padiham Weir - due to be renamed the Red Rose Rapids - left a shortfall of around £170,000.

And the plans were further put in jeopardy when the Environment Agency refused to act as a guarantor.

Civic leaders wrote to the government in a plea for help to save the plans to turn an abandoned weir into a regional canoeing and fishing centre, but to no avail.

Padiham Town Council clerk Elizabeth Bolton said: "The council and the town are extremely disappointed that this project is not going to happen.

"We will press to make sure that we still get some improvements to the river so we don't lose out completely."

Burnley MP Peter Pike said: "It is disappointing that the scheme seems to have bitten the dust as I supported it from the start and it would have been an exciting leisure facility for the area. If there is any way of resurrecting this scheme I will try to take it forward."

Other aspects of the scheme for Padiham Weir will not be jeopardised, including improvements to the riverside walk and plans for trout and salmon fishing in the River Calder.

Funding for the Red Rose Rapids, which was expected to cost £3.6million, was due to come from organisations including Sport England, the North West Development Agency, Lancashire County Council and the East Lancashire Partnership.

The Environment Agency also contributed £370,000 to fund the fish pass, which will provide a route to by-pass the weir and earlier this year Burnley Council agreed to add £10,000.

Marcus Johnstone, Lancashire County Councillor for Padiham and Hapton, and a major advocate of the project said: "The canoe slalom is a dead duck. We were hoping that the project would do for Padiham what the ski slope has done for Rossendale, but it seems it is dead in the water which is a real shame and a blow to the area."

The stretch of the Calder running through the site was constructed in the 1950s to control cooling water for the now demolished power station. Plans to develop it into a regional sporting facility started in 2001.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "The scheme is closed. There has been a funding shortfall which we have tried very hard to bridge. However we have been unable to do that."