BURNLEY and Rossendale will miss out on millions of pounds of job creation cash following a European Union decision to wipe the area off the map for special help.

Furious council chiefs in Burnley today described the decision not to allow the towns Assisted Area Status as "devastating" and will hold an emergency council debate on the issue tomorrow night.

The EU ruling -- which flies in the face of British Government recommendations for aid for the area, means Burnley and Rossendale will not be able to bid for a share of a massive £1.7billion in grants to safeguard jobs and increase prosperity over the next seven years.

The decision -- made on the grounds that the area's unemployment rate is not high enough to qualify it for assistance -- follows last year's ruling to exclude East Lancashire from similar valuable Objective 2 aid and comes at a time when Burnley has been staggered by a series of job-loss bodyblows, not least the announcement of 450 redundancies at the TRW motorparts plant. Burnley MP Peter Pike today called for the council to look for a loophole to fight the ruling which is subject to a 21-day consultation period.

He said: "I am very disappointed and annoyed. We thought assisted status had been tied up last year when the Government announced its map which included East Lancashire, now the European Union has said this is unacceptable."

He added: "The position does look bleak but we will try hard to change it or to condemn the decision if we cannot."

Mr Pike said the decision would make the council's task of creating and attracting jobs all the harder, adding it could be the case that recent redundancies in the town would mean that Burnley could qualify.

Burnley Council regeneration manager Mike Cook said the news, combined with tapering off of Objective 2 would have a considerable effect on the town. It was money vitally needed to provide match-funding for other European grants, to allow projects to go ahead, he added.

Council leader Stuart Caddy said the news was devastating and he would ensure the council would hold an emergency debate on the issue at tomorrow's full council meeting -- on the night the authority also debates severe problems faced by the area's manufacturing industry.

Michael Damms, chief executive of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, will raise the issue with regional development chiefs and Euro funding bosses in London today.

He said: "This is a further blow to an area that has already seen the loss of Objective Two funding. It is compounded by the continued hostile climate for manufacturers. It is hard to see how anybody has drawn the conclusion that this is an area on its way up.

"Manufacturers in East Lancashire are doing their best to help themselves but they need all the assistance they can get."

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