AN aerospace support group is set to be over-hauled after public funding was withdrawn.

Bosses at the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) have pledged to ‘develop other sources of funding’ after the North West Development Agency (NWDA) said its cash injections would end in March.

The funding blow now threatens the UK’s largest aerospace ‘cluster’, which is based in Nelson and represents firms from giants BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce to smaller suppliers.

But yesterday NWAA chief executive Martin Wright said the organisation and its world-class training schemes would continue.

He refused to reveal how much of the NWAA’s turnover came from the NWDA but admitted it was a ‘significant’ amount.

Mr Wright said: “We will now have to develop other sources of funding.

“We have got interest in our supply chain programme and we will look at where else we can get money from.

“It was always in our contract to become a more commercial organ-isation.

“We will just have to do it sooner than expected.”

Asked directly if the future of the NWAA was threatened, Mr Wright said: “That is too strong.

“It poses some challen-ges to the organisation.”

The NWAA, which represents 375 aerospace firms, is in discussions with the NWDA about the £7million supply chain excellence (ASCE) programme.

That scheme is funded separately by the NWDA and by European funding but is also threatened.

Last week, the NWAA used the Farnborough Air Show to attract interest in ASCE, to maintain world-class aerospace skills.

The NWAA declined to comment on the future of its 30 staff, in Nelson’s Pendle Business Centre and Bamber Bridge.

In June, Chancellor George Osborne axed the NWDA in his emergency Budget, prompting the cancellation of hundreds of contracts.