AN ‘outdated’ Colne youth club could be replaced with a new state-of-the-art version, according to council bosses.

Town Hall chiefs have asked Lancashire County Council (LCC) to transfer the land on which Youth Works Waterside Youth Club stands to the borough so that a long lease can be granted to Groundwork Pennine Lancashire.

The deal would allow the charity to apply for grants towards contructing a new youth and community centre on the site.

Ward councillors described the building as ‘outdated’ and are hoping the deal goes through in the near future.

The clubhouse, which was designed to be temporary, was built in 1987.

Pendle Council has a short-term lease of the land which it sub-lets to the South Valley Children’s Action Group, whose members run the club.

In the last two years Groundwork has been hiring the centre and its bosses are keen to create and run a new facility.

However, the charity is unable to bid for funding to make this happen unless it has a long lease.

Waterside Coun Tony Greaves described the discussions between the borough and county councils as a ‘step in the right direction.’ He said: “The building is long past its use-by date. It was expected to last 10 years at the most. At the time I said if it was still open after 10 years I would eat my hat and that was more than 25 years ago.

“Groundwork want to go out and do some serious fundraising for a new building, but can’t do that until they have a long lease. We’re all in favour of this and hope the county council come up trumps.”

A Pendle Counil spokesman said LCC has asked for background information on the youth club and plans for the land.

He added: “That’s what we’re working on now. We understand that they are checking that the land is surplus to their operational requirements.”