BURNLEY Council's regeneration chief has admitted a flagship programme that was set to breathe new life into an area of Trinity may falter.

Councillor Carole Galbraith, the council's new executive member for regeneration, said the £400,000 Home Zone project had hit problems.

The council has already dropped plans to spend £175,000 face-lifting houses with the Home Zone. Burnley was given the go-ahead to create a Home Zone by the Department of Transport in January 2002.

But since then none of the work has been carried out.

In Manchester, where a Home Zone was competed last year, work on the first phase was completed 11 months after their funding was secured.

Coun Galbraith said: "I cannot guarantee this is going to go ahead without a full report from the council and I will be asking what stage the council is at and I want a full report.

"There are a lot of people who want this to go ahead. I really do feel sorry for the residents.

"Some of these issues are really complex and I think they need to be reassured.

"And I feel sorry it has taken this long to get to this stage, it was agreed at the start of 2002 and we are almost halfway through 2003.

"I really don't know why it has taken longer in Burnley than it has in other areas, but I am going to find out.

"The people of this town have waited long enough for their quality of life to improve."

A spokesman for the Department of Transport, the body responsible for allocating Home Zone funding, said: "The money that we gave out is specifically for the construction of a Home Zone.

"The fact that it is still not off the ground is not that unusual, there can be a long consultation programme.

"But we do expect the money to be spent on the Home Zone as laid out in their original bid.

"If what Burnley Council delivers is different from what they bid for they need to let us know.

"If they change the programme from what they bid for we would want to know why.

"We have given money to the council to spend on the bid they submitted."