A FORMER councillor has blasted Hyndburn Council for boarding up empty homes -- despite having a waiting list of people desperate to move in.

Colin Feeley says there are more than 40 empty and boarded-up houses on the Within Grove estate, in Huncoat.

The 58-year-old, who was a Labour councillor for eight years up to 1988, says the money earned from rent and council tax on the properties could help the council out of its current financial plight.

Officers and members are currently trying to plug a potential £1.8million hole in the council's coffers.

"There are more than 40 houses empty on this estate," said Mr Feeley. It's scandalous, they are lovely homes. There's nothing wrong with them.

"I know there are enough people waiting to move into the properties to fill them because my son is on the waiting list. This authority is so much in debt but they could cut the rates if they ran it properly and looked into the cost of repairing houses.

"It's a complete waste of the authority's assets. These houses should be occupied, but they say they can't afford to do them up. They are doing flats and houses up in other areas, so why are these not being repaired and let out?"

But Councillor Tony Dobson, portfolio holder for housing, said: "The problem is we don't have enough money to get them to a standard where we can let them safely. A lot of them have been ransacked by previous tenants.

"We know there is a waiting list and we would love to do them up, but whatever we have to spend on them is not going to help the £1.8million deficit. The first so many years' rent would go towards what we have paid to do them up."

The council is currently investigating the possibility of selling off its 36,000 homes to a housing association similar to Blackburn's Twin Valley Homes, after a citizens jury decided that was the best of four options. A decision will be made later this year before tenants are balloted on the issue.