HOUSING minister Lord Falconer today revealed a series of tough measures to alleviate East Lancashire's dire housing problems but warned people: "The rest is up to you."

The government supremo -- who was given a grim six-hour tour earlier this month to see at first hand the state of the area's private housing crisis -- acknowledged the area had "constantly missed out" on government cash.

He pledged to raise standards in both council and private housing within 10 years but he said that much of the impetus must come from the people themselves. Local MPs and residents reacted by calling for government money to be put into the area as soon as possible.

Plans include

A tough new licensing scheme for private landlords in areas of low demand, which will mean landlords have to meet minimum standards -- and unscrupulous landlords will be stopped from letting.

The government bringing all social housing up to a minimum standard of decency by 2010

Making it easier for landlords to shift out anti-social tenants by speeding up court proceedings.

Speeding up compulsory purchase orders to help councils clear away slums.

But he warned: "There's only so much central government can do. The impetus for change in East Lancashire must come from East Lancastrians themselves."

Mr Falconer met with MPs Greg Pope, Janet Anderson and Gordon Prentice during his recent visit, plus representatives of the area's six local councils.

Today he said that amid the area's "great beauty" lay a grim catalogue of problems with a lot of the housing -- public and private -- allowed to slump into "a truly appalling state of repair."

He added: "The overwhelming feeling from many of the people I met -- from residents, from councillors, from MPs -- was that the region had been passed by. It has consistently missed out on cash from central government and European union regeneration schemes." MPs welcomed his reaction but warned him the government must find the cash to enable local action to be taken.

Hyndburn MP Mr Pope, who arranged the visit, said: "This is an important step forward. Local groups have been asked for report and we will all be delighted to produce one involving the councils, the East Lancashire Partnership and all the other stakeholders in housing.

"We are going to need government help and cash at the end of the day to tackle this problem. We cannot do it on our own.''

Pendle MP Mr Prentice said: "The problem in East Lancashire is ageing private sector homes in poor condition.

"We have been asked to produce a report which we will do but we will need government money. We cannot deal with this on our own.

"We need the procedures for dealing with such housing streamlining, notably the planning process and appeals procedure.

"We have too many houses for the demand in many areas leading to a complete collapse of the housing market in some places. We have to take some of those houses out of the market. You can't just compulsorily purchase someone's home but we can't afford to wait for months to get a decision."

Darwen and Rossendale MP Janet Anderson said: "Lord Falconer is quite right when he says we feel very strongly that we have been passed by and consistently missed out on cash from central government and European regeneration schemes.

"He is correct when he says that the impetus for change must come from us in East Lancashire ourselves. But we shall be seeking serious financial backing from government."