A PIONEERING £1.4million prisons project aimed at reducing crime across the area is to be scrapped after its funding was cut.

The scheme, developed by the Blackburn Diocese, is credited with reducing re-offending rates by 20 per cent in the 1,300 prisoners it has worked with in the past three years.

Peter Nowland, who supervised the project for the Church of England, said the loss of Home Office funding was a “bitter blow”.

He said: “The overwhelming feeling is one of sadness and frustration that the project has ended, and worry that much of the good which it has undoubtedly done may be wasted without someth-ing to take its place.”

The project was designed to be of national benefit by cutting re-offending rates by offering support to prisoners and families.

More than 1,300 prisoners applied to join the pilot project, in four Lancashire jails, during its three-year lifespan.

And the Family Days and Support Project trained 120 volunteers across Lancashire to work with Preston, Lancaster Castle, Kirkham and Wymott prisons.

A project review published this week said: “The general conclusion is that this project, or something very similar, should not only be reinstated in Lancashire but repeated throughout the country.”