REGENERATION bosses have been scuppered for a second time in their attempts to find a name for their new company.

The organisation, made up of six councils from across East Lancashire, will be formed to lobby for more funds in a bid to rival Manchester and Liverpool.

The first name they had chosen, Pennine Lancashire Development Company Limited, was taken at the last minute by a Burnley resident who registered it with Companies House.

Kate Hollern, Blackburn with Darwen council’s opposition leader, told the Lancashire Telegraph at the time: “This is absolute madness. Why was it not registered before?"

And now, after the Lancashire Telegraph's story on this first hiccup, the second choice name, Pennine Lancashire Developments Limited, has also been taken.

Companies House records show it was set up on December 1, with the same registered address, Hargher Street, Burnley.

Now Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Michael Lee refuses to reveal the next choice in case it is registered by someone else.

He said: “It is mildly irritating. I can only assume he thinks he will make money from it, but we are not that sort of company and won’t be paying for it.”

Pennine Lancashire is a joint project between the leaders of Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley councils.

The branding was the brainchild of music mogul Tony Wilson, who died in 2007.

Bosses hope by working together they will be able to channel more government funding through the new organisation.