FOR years, the world has been looking to Japan for ideas about how to run a successful modern economy.

But the high-tech country is now coming to Burnley for advice on how to boost industry in run-down areas

A delegation from the Japanese government visited the town to get some tips on urban regeneration.

The three-strong team was sent to Lancashire by Japan's Ministry of Construction, which is planning to redevelop railway lands in Japan.

Burnley council officers took Shosuke Kubota, Akihiko Nakazono and Kinya Toda on a tour of industrial sites and gave them a talk on local experience of enterprise zones, which have helped bring jobs and investment to the borough over the past few years.

David Brown, the director of development and environmental services, told the Citizen: "It is not often that the Japanese look to a town such as Burnley for best practice!

"We were very pleased to be asked to contribute to the delegation's research and trust the information we are able to give on Burnley's experience will prove useful to the government of Japan."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.