MORE than half of Blackburn and Darwen's houses are to be pulled down or transformed under plans unveiled today.

Council bosses have drawn up their target areas to receive Government cash under the East Lancashire-wide Pathfinder project launched last month.

A total of 27,900 of homes in Blackburn with Darwen are included in 'intervention areas.' The Government has said £500million is available over the next three years for nine Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder projects across the country.

East Lancashire was picked because it had a high number of houses which are deemed unfit to live in and a large number of vacant houses. A total of 15 per cent of houses in Blackburn with Darwen sell for less than £20,000 and the borough average house price is less than £60,000 -- compared to a national average of £140,000.

In East Lancashire, five authorities -- Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Burnley and Pendle -- have come together to form one Pathfinder, which has been called Elevate East Lancashire.

Each council has drawn up areas which will benefit from a range of measures, including demolition, rebuilding, refurbishment, environmental improvements and better facilities.

Blackburn with Darwen has created six zones for improvement, of which three will be the target of work over the next three years.

It anticipates it is entitled to £14million over the next three years, based on splitting the Government's £500million evenly between the nine Pathfinders and then divided again between each council on a pro rata basis for the number of houses in need of repair.

The three priority areas are: Central Darwen, Blackburn Inner North West and Blackburn Inner South East.

It is expected that the cash injection will attract up to five times as much private money, with private builders keen to get involved as areas are transformed.

Along with the 27,900 homes included in the intervention programmes, a further 10,000 former council houses now owned by Twin Valley Homes are being revamped, meaning more than half of the borough's 59,000 homes will benefit from intervention over the next decade.

Council leader Bill Taylor, said: "This is not just a quick fix but a sustained programme of initiatives that will look to find a total solution to neighbourhood decline while tackling housing problems directly through a combination of demolition, group repairs and new low cost homes.

"Just tackling housing will not solve the problems, we need to take a strategic view of what actually makes a community and ensure we get it right."

The council will also use the £4million a year it receives from Government to fund projects in private sector housing.

Coun Mohammed Khan, in charge of housing and neighbourhood services, said: "We have shown what we can do with money, through improvements made under a different scheme in Bank Top and Tony Blair has seen that for himself."

As well as Blackburn with Darwen, parts of Accrington, Church, Oswaldtwistle and Clayton-le-Moors have been identified for work at the start of the ten-year project. Areas of Burnley and parts of central Padiham will also be targeted along with Brierfield, Nelson and Colne, Bacup and Stacksteads.