DISAPPOINTED war veterans fear this year's poppy appeal in Blackburn will suffer because organisers have been forced to move out of the town hall.

Appeal organiser Pat Browne said moving the poppy appeal HQ to council offices in Corporation Park will cut the number of volunteers and may mean less cash will be collected to help former soldiers and their families.

"They (the council officers) are not interested in the people, they're just interested in pursuing their policies," said Mr Browne, 69, who has organised the annual poppy appeal collection in Blackburn for the past six years.

"They are here because of the people who fought in the wars. It's very sad."

It is the second time poppy appeal organisers have been forced to move. Twenty four years ago they were ousted from the Sessions House in Northgate.

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson said: "Many volunteers give hours of their time to make the poppy appeal a success. I think we should be doing our best to help them rather than putting obstacles in their way.

"I'm going to take this matter up with Blackburn with Darwen Council to see if it's possible to find a better alternative."

Mr Browne said Blackburn British Legion branch had used a room at the town hall for a month in the run-up to the annual collection, the biggest of the year in Blackburn, for at least ten years.

After 1999's collection organisers were told the room would not be available this year because it is being refurbished but council officers offered to find alternative space. Mr Browne believed that would be in another room in the town hall or King George's Hall until a few weeks ago when Blackburn with Darwen Council offered the old soldiers space in Corporation Park, out of the town centre.

"The town hall was ideal," said Mr Browne. "It was near the buses so volunteers who couldn't drive could get in. They let us use the cellar for storing our stuff and all the town centre collectors could bob in and out easily. "We're afraid people will not be able to to do the collection work this year because they can't get to Corporation Park. It could affect the amount of money we raise.

"I would have thought they would always find room for the poppy appeal. The new office is fine and the council did a lot of work to make it ready for us but it's in the wrong place."

Mr Browne said around 15 of the 50 elderly volunteers do not have cars. Young cadets also help with the collection. Last year they collected £19,700.

Brian Barnes, chairman of the Legion branch, said: "We're talking about people who are 70 and 80 of age; many of them don't have cars. They will have to catch the bus into town and hen make their own way up to the park.

"The town hall has treated us well in the past but they're not treating us well now.

"We don't want to fall out with them but the members are upset over this." Peter Hobkirk, president of Blackburn Chamber of Trade which represents shopkeepers in the centre, said: "We support the British legion in the work it does and anything that deflects the funds they raise through the poppy collection is not something we would want. "The council has to run its business but it surprises me that as a major landlord it doesn't have other space in the town centre.

"Perhaps there is someone else with an empty shop that the Legion could use."

Council chief executive Phil Watson was said to be unavailable for comment.

A council spokesman said: "We were under the impression the British Legion understood the new office would not be in the town hall.

"We have done all we can to accomodate them.

"We fully value the work the British Legion does and we want to continue to work with them in the future as best we can."

The town's poppy appeal will be launched at Blackburn Rovers on Friday.