AN East Lancashire council which controversially agreed not to sell off its housing stock cannot afford to now maintain the homes, one of its senior managers has admitted.

Ribble Valley Council housing boss John Heap said the authority was in a "serious position" and even if spending estimates were wrong by 50 per cent there would not be enough cash to bridge the gap.

In a report to councillors he said: "There is gap between what we need to do and what we can afford to do.

"Between now and when we next come back to council we will have another look at it and see if we can find a way of bridging it." The authority provoked a storm of protest last year after it agreed not to sell the stock of 1,255 homes to a registered social landlord.

Many tenants urged the council to transfer the stock as they hoped it would see millions spent on improvements.

Now a business plan to do up homes, prepared by the council, will not work, according to council officers.

Mr Heap said tenant representatives had said the business plan was "unacceptable for them and the council should reconsider its decision".

A business planning group overseeing how the council can maintain the stock with the cash available found even if estimates were out by 50 per cent that "still doesn't bridge the gap", he added.

Now officers are going back to the drawing board to see what they can afford to do.

Mr Heap said: "It is a serious position and I suppose the business planning working group have done as much as they could do and it will now come back before council to see how council thinks it should proceed.

"We know what we can afford and by the time we come to council we will be able to tell you what the implications are of simply spending what we can afford."

Housing service manager Christine Grimshaw added that the council plan would not be accepted by the Government. She said regional Government bosses would not sign off the present business plan as it is "isn't financially sustainable".