A MAJOR restructure of Burnley and Padiham Community Housing is on the cards after bosses admitted they could not deliver a good enough level of service.

The group is set to axe 21 positions and create a further 26 jobs in a bid to improve their performance following demands by tenants that they shape-up their act.

Bosses said they hoped the cuts would be achieved by voluntary redundancies and early retirements rather than compulsory job losses and said they were speaking to trade unions and staff about how best to implement the plans, set to come in next year.

Burnley and Pendle Community Housing Chief Executive Tim Pinder announced the proposals at a meeting earlier this week following a four-month review. Mr Pinder, who was appointed in July, told 200 staff at the meeting in Turf Moor that he had spent the first months in the post talking to tenants, staff and councillors.

He said: "The overwhelming message I have received back is that on a number of key issues for tenants, BPCH is simply unable to meet their expectations, in particular dealing with anti-social behaviour and improving the environmental quality of our estates.

"As a customer-focused business we simply cannot afford to be delivering services that are not of the quality demanded by our customers. The feedback from tenants was simple, we need to do more."

Mr Pinder said four main areas of concern had been highlighted during the review:

More resources to tackle anti-social behaviour

More resources to improve caretaking on estates

Fewer insensitive lettings

Poor standards of grass cutting

Earlier this year elderly residents in bungalows owned by the group complained after clumps of grass cuttings made it unsafe for them to walk near their homes.

The job of grounds maintenance around the homes, in Queens Road, was contracted out by the housing association after the council stopped carrying out the work last October.

Mr Pinder said it would be impossible to deliver improved services from the current resources without making changes. He added: "With a fixed level of income from our rents our ability to increase resources is extremely limited. New posts cannot simply be added to the existing structure. There has to be some switching of resources in order for the proposals to be affordable to our tenants."

The cost of the re-structuring is likely to be between £109,000-£175,000 with increased annual running costs of around £85,000.

Burnley and Padiham Community Housing took over Burnley Borough Council's former housing stock of more than 5,200 houses two years ago.

During those two years, of the £23million spent on its 5, 258 properties, the company has spent £13.6million on modernisation and maintenance, including installing central heating, new kitchens, double glazing and electrical rewiring.

It plans to spend a similar amount on modernisation and repairs over the next four years.

The company is also looking for a new headquarters as the lease on its base at Princess Way runs out in 2005.