AS someone who sees the real consequences of housing problems on an everyday basis, I was sad to read of the closure of the Furniture Store in Burnley.

This valuable service, which was run by South West Burnley Enterprise Trust, has helped many young people set up home for the first time and enabled other families to make a fresh start after personal and financial difficulties.

For Burnley and Padiham Community Housing it has made an enormous difference knowing that new customers can take that step in to a new home without running the risk of running up debts of hundreds of pounds, if not thousands. I worry about what will happen now.

Sometimes a family just needs a couple of items to make a successful move possible. Imagine trying to struggle for weeks without beds or a cooker.

Some people assume that there is always help available from the Government to avoid situations like this. The reality is that I often come across these situations -- perhaps because there are no funds left for community care grants towards the end of the year or because a family already has outstanding loans from the Department of Work and Pensions and is not eligible for further help.

Whatever the reason, new tenants often have nothing to rely on but local charities and the goodwill of strangers.

Often, young people don't have well paid jobs and supportive families. Victims of harassment and violence often leave their previous homes with nothing, afraid to return. The items they need may be expensive. How can we expect them to cope if the odds are stacked against them making the transition to a new home?

If we don't support them they don't just conveniently disappear. It's a downward spiral in which the problems escalate until we lose the chance of making a difference. That's the stage at which despair can turn into resentment and violence. If we want to build a stable future for Burnley, we need to make those first, important steps possible.

I know money is limited but there are an awful lot of people who would be glad to see their old furniture go to a good cause. The waste of decent furniture is criminal. Can Burnley really afford to see this type of crucial service disappear for good? I don't think so.

There are always difficult decisions to make about which projects to fund but I hope that the need to come up with a replacement scheme will be uppermost in the minds of local councillors and other voluntary agencies.

As a representative of a business which has a real stake in this community, I will certainly be making sure that Burnley Council are aware of how strongly I feel. I hope readers will do the same.

PAUL BUCKLEY, Director of Housing and Regeneration, Burnley and Padiham Community Housing.