WORRIED members of Hyndburn's Chamber of Trade have spoken out about the threat to Accrington's pioneering safety wardens.

President of the chamber, Susan Fox, told the Citizen: "We all hope to goodness that someone can find the money somewhere. We cannot afford to finance them ourselves but we are hoping someone who can will come forward.

"Here we have a real asset to our town, and an example of how Accrington can lead the country when it comes to keeping the streets safe. We need someone to keep it going or we will lose them."

Mrs Fox said members of the Chamber of Trade were very grateful to the wardens and their work. She said: "Before they came along we had in fact reached the stage where people were afraid to go shopping in the town.

"Now the shoppers are back, they feel safe, the shopkeepers feel safe and vandalism has reduced enormously."

Mrs Fox was responding to the news in last week's Citizen that the wardens may have to be disbanded when their funding runs out in March 1998. Despite their popularity, their future is uncertain as the money to pay them has yet to be found.

Accrington's Community Safety Warden scheme is the first of its kind in the country. Since its introduction, vandalism in the town centre has dropped by 50 per cent.

Mrs Fox added: "The wardens are very popular with the town's shopkeepers - and rightly so. We are just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best."

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