EAST Lancashire's desperate need for government cash to revitalise rundown housing is well chronicled.

The £170million joint bid put in to the Pathfinder fund last year is money that is an absolutely essential part of our continued regeneration efforts.

To persuade employers to come to the area or stay here and develop their businesses East Lancashire has to have plenty of good quality housing - not rotting Victorian slums.

But two announcements by the Government so far have seen huge sums go to Manchester, Salford, Merseyside and Tyneside - and not a penny to East Lancashire.

Max Steinberg of Elevate - the partnership set up to revitalise our housing - says he is confident we will get cash in the next allocation due in March or April.

But there is only £220million left and five other areas are still waiting - Oldham and Rochdale, South Yorkshire, North Staffs, Birmingham/Sandwell and Humberside - so simple maths dictates that at the most we will only get a fraction of the bid this year unless some areas are completely ignored.

What appears to be happening fuels the case of those who argue against regional government on the grounds that East Lancashire will be shouted down by more powerful parts of the North West like Merseyside and Manchester.

Our voice must not be ignored.