HYNDBURN Borough Council's planning service has received a cash award for recent improvements.

All planning authorities are to receive a minimum government grant of £75,000 this year as part of the first allocation of the government's new planning delivery grant.

But extra resources have been awarded to councils which have shown improvements in recent years.

Hyndburn Council is one of only two in Lancashire to receive more than the basic allowance. It will receive £97,980 for 2003/04. The other local authority to benefit is Wyre Borough Council.

Hyndburn was the twelfth fastest authority in dealing with applications last year. It decided 86.4 per cent of applications within the government's eight week target which was an improvement on previous years.

Coun Tim O'Kane, portfolio holder for

the environment, said: "I am absolutely delighted that the improvements we have made in recent years have been acknowledged by the government with this extra funding.

"In terms of speed of dealing with planning applications Hyndburn has moved from near the bottom of the table to being one of the top performers in the country.

"This has been due to outstanding effort by our planning team even though we have been under-staffed for much of the past year.

"We have been waiting with optimism for the announcement of this grant and will now have to find out the details of what exactly we will be allowed to use it for."

The government will invest £50 million in raising the standards of performance in planning this year and a further £300 million in the next two years.