THE chief executive of Burnley Council has stepped in to investigate a row over membership of a new housing board.

Former councillor Peter Swainston was nominated by the Labour group to serve as one of its four council representatives on the shadow board of Burnley and Pendle Community Housing - the official body if the council's housing stock is transferred.

But Independent Coun Harry Brooks says the nomination should have been given to members of the council and not a "political mate".

Opposition councillors voted against the nomination but it was carried by the ruling Labour councillors.

The body is made up of six elected tenants, six independent people and six people representing the council.

Chief executive Roger Ellis confirmed today he was investigating the nomination of Mr Swainston to the board. Coun Brooks, who is one of the two opposition members on the board, said: "The whole idea is that the council representatives should be properly accountable and that means they should be councillors, not political mates.

"The logical extension of this nomination is that you could have a board with no councillors at all and that is absurd.

"Indeed the video that was circulated to tenants said quite clearly that six councillors would sit on the board."

However, council leader Coun Stuart Caddy said: "Mr Swainston has been a member of the shadow board since it was set up and we wanted to have continuity which is why we put him forward. A lot of work has been put in so far by the members of the board and we did not want to have to start someone new. "We did say we would have six councillors on the board and if we find that Mr Swainston is not eligible to be one of those representatives then he will have to stand down and we will put forward another member.

"I have been approached by tenants on the shadow board and a member of the independent sector and they asked if we could support Mr Swainston to carry on.

"They wanted him to stay on the board."

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