A POOR economy is at the heart of East Lancashire's higher than average level of unfit housing claimed a Burnley councillor.

After hearing proposals for a ten-year scheme to knock down and rebuild the housing market. Burnley Borough councillor Steve Wolski said clearing up poor housing would not hit the root of the problem.

He said: "The main problem in Burnley is an economic one. Housing is a spin off.

"We don't want grants to renew housing and the other ones going bad because we haven't got the building blocks, we need to get the town wealthy and make the town viable."

According to the report a 'spiral of decline' through low level skills, educational attainment, wages and poor health was to blame for the deterioration and abandonment of private sector housing stock.

A £670million Government grant, which Burnley Borough Council hopes would be available from a new national Housing Market Renewal Fund, would be needed to make the scheme possible.

The rest of the £1.25million total cost would come from existing regeneration programmes and private sector investment.

Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale would all benefit from the scheme.

More than 35 per cent of homes in Blackburn with Darwen are deemed unfit and around 25 per cent of homes in Burnley. The national average for a local authority is 10 per cent.

East Lancashire also has around twice as many empty dwellings as the national average.

Chief executive Dr Gillian Taylor last night told councillors: "If we are successful in moving forward all the housing market bid it would be one of the single biggest things that will drive the borough forward over the next ten to 20 years.

"We need to look at how we resource it as a new priority.

"All the feedback we're getting from Government, regional development agency and housing corporation in the last month is that if we don't get our act together and refresh and revise what we're doing, we're not going to be in that position to move forward."

Burnley has until July to finalise its clearance and rebuilding strategy but will have to form a queue with areas including Manchester, Liverpool, parts of the North East and West Midlands.

Funding would not be available until 2004-5 and the work would be likely to be delivered via a partnership across East Lancashire.