CAMPAIGNERS calling on Bolton Council to renovate country park building are gaining hundreds of supporters with an online petition.

In just one week the petition asking for improvements to Rock Hall in Moses Gate Country Park, gained more than 800 signatures.

The petition was set up by Farnworth resident Gemma Hall who was inspired to take action after being saddened by a post she saw on Facebook about the derelict building.

And she wants the community to be given permission to “do something positive with the park” and turn the council-owned building back into a visitor centre and cafe.

Mrs Hall said: “It makes me really angry because they let so many buildings fall into dereliction.”

Rock Hall was built in 1807 by the Crompton family, who were local papermakers based within the park.

The hall housed managers of the paper mill and it was then turned into a visitor centre in the early 1980s, but has been closed to the public now for several years.

Mrs Hall argues that Moses Gate Country Park needs better facilities to improve the visitor experience and the building could generate an income.

She said: “Why is it not being opened up to the community? It’s an asset to the community”

The use of Rock Hall was raised at the inaugural meeting of a new local group, Friends of Moses Gate, last week.

Peter Flitcroft, leader of Farnworth and Kearsley First, said that local authorities let buildings become run down so that they can demolish it on the basis that no one uses it.

He told the meeting: “It’s got to be used otherwise it will go.”

Mrs Hall said that a number of residents have made proposals to make use of the building in the past, but it has been unclear why they have been rejected.

She said: “We are not getting any decent answers as to why these buildings are getting left.”

She now plans to take the petition to Bolton Council's meeting next month and is hoping to gather more signatures before then to try and force a discussion about the issue.

A council spokesman said: “The council is always willing to consider transferring non-operational property to community groups, where they can demonstrate that they have the capability and wherewithal to renovate the property for community use and manage it in a sustainable manner over the medium to long-term.

“If whoever wishes to take responsibility for the property wishes to contact the council’s property services team this is something that can be discussed in more detail.”

The petition can be found at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/renovate-rock-hall?