A COMMUNITY leader's demands for improvement cash for his area were 'morally wrong,' a Burnley housing chief told councillors.

Housing committee vice-chairman Donald Hall, said to meet all the claims for help made by Daneshouse councillor Mozaquir Ali would swallow up all the money Burnley could receive for years to come before anything was spent on other areas of the town.

"I think that is morally wrong," he told the housing committee.

He rebuked Liberal Democrat Coun Ali for planning a rival Daneshouse bid for government Single Regeneration Budget cash, against the town's official application for funds to go to the Burnley Wood and Accrington Road districts and for calling in North West Development Agency top manager Collette Turner, for talks on the possible new bid. "This could put the council's bid at risk. If the agency think Burnley cannot get its act together, the money could go to other areas," he said.

But Coun Ali hit back: "I know Coun Hall wants to be a hero in Burnley Wood - but don't tell me about morality."

He had, he said, never opposed money going to Burnley Wood, but Daneshouse was the most deprived area of town, with some homes hardly habitable and other areas had received far more improvement cash.

The Daneshouse Partnership would decide soon whether to press on with its own bid or support the official application.

He added: "I have every right to express the concerns of my constituents and that is what I am doing."

Housing chairman Rafique Malik said he was confident the Daneshouse Partnership, 'a responsible body,' would come up with a decision which was in the best interests of the town, but warned that if it did not, the body would 'disintegrate.'

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