PENDLE is set to become a cleaner borough after the council was given £500,000 to tackle grot spots and increase house prices.

And now councillors are being encouraged to put forward their proposals on how they would like to see the cash spent.

Executive member for environment, coun John David, today said the cash would complement the new fleet of roadsweepers, graffiti cleaners and gum busters the borough had bought in the past year.

He said: "We have spent a vast amount of money on various cleaning machines and we are also putting a lot of effort into getting people who make a mess of their back yards to clean them up.

"We have made pretty substantial improvements, but there are still an awful lot of problems left and we are determined to tackle them.

"This money will go a long way."

The authority will receive £250,000 over the next two years as part of the Elevate housing market renewal programme.

It comes after council chiefs said there was evidence that a poor environment damaged people's perception of the area, leading to lower house prices.

The cash will be used to carry out small scale improvement projects, get residents to take part in community clean ups and clean up key gateways into towns.

It comes just weeks after the council warned residents who dump bags of litter on streets they could face legal action and £1,000 fines.

Over the coming weeks councillors on Pendle's area committees will draw up a hit list of where they want the money spent.

Coun David added: "It is very important to bring suggestions forward quickly so we can make Pendle cleaner. "