P LANCASTER City Council will keep an open mind over methods it will use to avoid a £20 million shortfall in the long-term costs of keeping its housing stock in good condition.

The council will look into three options to deal with the shortfall, which will begin to take effect in five or six years.

As the Citizen revealed last week, the options include transferring the stock to a body such as a housing association, creating an 'arms length' company or taking part in a private finance initiative.

A study will compare the benefits of these schemes to keeping its council houses.

Cabinet member responsible for community services, Cllr David Barker, said: "Obviously the council would like to continue its role as landlord, and we also know that view is shared by tenants.

"However, we cannot ignore the major shortfall in resources in the coming years, and we have no alternative but to look at all the options available.

"If we remains as we are, we will need to make major cutbacks in our future improvement programmes.

"Should the council ultimately wish to pursue any of the options there would, of course, be full and detailed consultation with tenants prior to any decision being made."