A COUNCIL was today attacked over the 'scandalous' decision to send an unelected group of women on a £1,900 fact-finding trip to Madrid.

Blackburn with Darwen Council was today reviewing the way European and Government community grants for rundown areas are awarded after details of the trip came to light.

Conservative leader Colin Rigby said the people of Whitebirk, who were targeted by the grants, needed real action, not junkets and freebies across Europe.

He added: "If anyone is going it should be the people who can make decisions."

And Lib Dem leader Coun Paul Browne said the trip was outrageous and asked: "Have they never heard of the internet or the telephone?"

The £1,900 grant to the Whitebirk-based East Blackburn Social Action Committee will fund a trip to meet people behind the Tomillo Foundation, a charity which has been running for nearly 20 years.

The money represents a fifth of the £10,000 awarded to community groups in the Whitebirk area of Blackburn so far this year, from a budget for that district of £20,000.

Coun Frank Connor, who oversees the community boards which the council set up to hand out grants, said he felt the trip could be worthwhile, although he said he was not familiar with the precise details.

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But in-depth information about the foundation is available from its own English website and the European Union's websites. Coun Connor said: "They will see what is done and feed reports to agencies like the council. Officers can then see what we can do."

But he added: "I will be looking again at the criteria for the grants."

He said he did not know what had prompted the four women to request the trip, or if they were selected by other people.

Council leader Sir Bill Taylor said: "Power to make decisions is devolved to community boards. I'll talk to Coun Connor to see if the rules need to be tightened up."

Jacqueline McGrew, chairman of the Whitebirk community board, today refused to be drawn on why the trip won cash backing. She declined to give any contact details for the group awarded the money, and referred inquiries back to Blackburn with Darwen Council, which also refused to pass on contact details.

No other members of the Whitebirk board, made up of councillors and community leaders, were available to comment and the council again refused to provide any contact details.

Several rundown areas of Blackburn had 'community boards' set up by council bosses to decide how European and Government money for its deprived areas should be spent.

The Tomillo Foundation was set up in Madrid's poorer districts and attracts millions of euros of financial support every year to help improve the quality of life after the collapse of local industry in the late 1980s.

Around 10,000 youngsters benefit every year and the scheme has been praised by the European Union.

The Tomillo Foundation helps find jobs for youngsters, encourages them to take on training to get new skills, holds summer schools to improve achievement and work with families who are in danger of breaking-up. Most of its money comes from Government departments in Spain.

Its goals are to improve academic achievement, quality of life and opportunities for people living in rundown areas. Its economic problems are said to have led to similar problems to those experienced in Whitebirk -- unemployment, low youth achievement and anti-social behaviour.

Other grants handed out by the community board recently include £500 to give local youngsters free swimming lessons and £1,000 to promote community cohesion in the Whitebirk area.

Whitebirk councillor Frank Gorton, a Labour councillor who normally sits on the board but could not make last month's meeting, said: "I am concerned by this. I had heard a bit about it but I thought they would be looking at schemes in this country. I will be finding out how this could happen."

A date for the trip has not been revealed.