BOSSES of Elevate believe it could be a decade before the real benefits of the regeneration project start to be seen.

The message forms the central part of Elevate East Lancashire's annual report for 2006/2007.

Elevate, which has regeneration projects in Blackburn, Hyndburn, Burnley, and Pendle, is one of nine housing market "Pathfinder" schemes across the country.

It is using millions of pounds worth of Government cash to re-build or transform rundown homes in a bid to transform communities.

And Elevate chiefs stressed in the report that there was no "quick-fix" in terms of urban renewal.

Earlier this month Elevate was criticised after it was revealed that far more houses had been demolished than built under the scheme.

Since 2004, just 16 houses have been built in East Lancashire - the lowest of all the Pathfinder schemes across the country - while 1,389 properties have been demolished.

But Elevate chief executive, Max Steinberg, said in the annual report: "We always knew that transforming housing markets in areas like this can't be done in a three or five-year period. It was always going to take a 10 to 15-year programme.

"The next three years really gets us in to the heart of the programme.

"I am confident that I can continue to convince people that by investing in the area, by bringing private money in, by improving the image and by creating more opportunities, that we are really on track."

The report shows how Elevate East Lancashire allocated £46million of housing funding to its five partner local authorities between April 2006 and March 2007.

Of these, Blackburn with Darwen received of £14.7m, Burnley £11.7m, Hyndburn £6.7m, Pendle £8m and Rossendale just under £2m. Much of the council cash went on refurbishing existing housing and trying to improve dilapidated neighbourhoods.

A further £3m was awarded to Pennine Lancashire which Elevate is a partner in. This was the brainchild of former Manchester music mogul Anthony Wilson who died earlier this year and is involved in several project such as The Weave initiative in Burnley which aims to regenerate the Weavers' Triangle.

Elevate chairman David Taylor said it was a challenge to rejuvenated an area that was significantly behind most places in terms of regeneration.

He said: "The big test of success will be to see the private sector investing 100 per cent on its own.

"In some of our areas, it must be the first time the private sector has spent money here in over 100 years. That's amazing really. I can think of very few places where it has taken 100 years to get round to the second wave of investment."