Max heads the team trying to Elevate our region

THE size of the task facing Max Steinberg becomes apparent during the drive from Blackburn to meet him at his Colne headquarters.

East Lancashire's dilapidated town centres and run down houses are not flattered by the January rain and overcast sky.

But the man who has been close to the heart of Tony Blair's government since it came to power in 1997 is not intimidated.

In fact Max, who has worked in housing for 28 years and was part of the team that devised the Pathfinder project, said he chose to work in East Lancashire because it was a stern test. He added: "Out of the nine areas in the country chosen to take part in the £500million Pathfinder project I always thought this area was the biggest challenge.

"The other areas, which include Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham, are all areas where there is low demand for housing but they have the advantage of being able to draw on city economies.

"In East Lancashire, however, councils are not able to draw on the existence of major economies, which is challenging."

Blackburn, Darwen, Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn and Rossendale councils will all be given a portion of whatever Elevate is awarded and all of the towns suffer from varying degrees of deprivation.

The problem is, perhaps, most unsatisfactory in Burnley, which has an estimated 4,000 unwanted homes. Property in some areas can exchange hands for little more than £1,000.

Housing is a priority for Max and the Elevate team, but it is not his only consideration. He said: "It's not just about houses, it's about an economy that's been declining steadily for years. That is why we have been looking at health, education and businesses and working with other partners to look at issues that surround different agendas. No organisation can deliver this on its own. Elevate will work with anyone and everyone for the good of East Lancashire."

Attempting to apportion blame over the region's problems can be difficult. Max, however, is more candid about the reasons for the decline and why the Elevate programme can succeed where past regeneration initiatives have failed: "Firstly this is a ten to 15-year programme whereas previous ones have run for three or five years. They were not robust enough to affect the kind of regeneration needed.

"Secondly a number of those initiatives only concentrated on housing. We are looking at a whole range of issues. Finally, Elevate is the only programme I am aware of that has united all the district councils, the MPs and other organisations."

Max also believes one of East Lancashire's biggest assets has also worked as one of its biggest hindrances. He added: "The M65 is clearly a boon for the region, but 95 per cent of new housing has been built alongside it. While it has been a general problem across the country, development along the motorway has contributed to a weakness in our town centres.

"There has been a move away from our town centres in the same way there was once a move away from cities. But while they were strong enough to cope our economies were not. We want to reverse that trend and bring people back to the towns and create environments where they can live in a safe environment."

Working alongside Michael Heseltine in Liverpool during the 1980s Max was shown first hand the horrors of terminal decline, so he is more than well equipped to deal with his new role.

It's not all doom and gloom, however, and Max and his team are already excited about what Elevate is going to mean. He revealed that the government's own architectural consultants, CABE, are working alongside them and intend to harness East Lancashire's best features.

Max said: "It's well known that you can be standing in the middle of some of the region's most run down areas and be only a couple of miles from its best. The countryside and waterways are not being used to their best potential and we need to be looking at things like attracting more tourists."

Elevate's biggest test, however, will be its ability to deliver what it has promised.