AN offer by the Heritage Trust for the North West to buy 50 houses earmarked for clearance and renovate them has been supported by the Association of Preservation Trusts.

A letter from the association's chairman, Liz Davidson, was handed into the on-going public inquiry into plans by Pendle Council to compulsory purchase 62 homes in Whitefield, Nelson, yesterday to give her backing to the suggestion made by HTNW.

The APT is a member organisation of the Building Preservation Trusts (BPTs). She said: "I've been following the debate about terraced housing in Nelson and the efforts of the Heritage Trust for the North West (HTNW) and others to save the houses from demolition.

"HTNWs offer to restore 50 terraced houses is typical of schemes undertaken by BPTs. They've led the way in the regeneration of rundown communities and given confidence to the commercial developer to purchase."

She said a new report by the Chartered Institue of Housing (CIH) has been commissioned which questioned large scale demolition as a solution to reviving northern communities.

She said: "All this demonstrates what a fantastic opportunity awaits to be grasped in Nelson and we have confidence the HTNW has the wealth of experience to achieve a regeneration success in the area.

"Nelson is an ideal scheme for HTNW and the Prince's Trust Foundation to demonstrate what can be achieved through a restoration led approach."