A project for the homeless in Burnley has received a £250,000 boost from a Liechtenstein-based charitable foundation.

Supporters of the Emmaus Burnley project, at the former Booth Court, off Colne Road, Daneshouse, say the cash will help them to begin accepting ‘companions’ next January.

The announcement by Medicor, a philanthropic organisation based in the principality, is welcome news for the organisation, after potential fund-ing from the doomed North West Devel-opment Agency was withdrawn.

Former Burnley MP Peter Pike, the sche-me’s chairman, has said that work on acc-ommodation for home-less people, at the former Booth Court, should be completed by the end of the year.

Mr Pike said: “This is really excellent news and is specifically towards the conversion work already under way of our first phase. This work will provide 11 ‘comp-anion’ units, plus staff accommodation, a dining room and training kit-chen among other parts of our sch-eme.”

Last month the project rec-eived planning perm-ission to convert the former St John’s Infant School, in nearby Ivy Street, into a social enterprise unit, to house the second phase of the project, providing work skills.

Mr Pike also confirmed that the first three staff had been recruited for the scheme and they would be undergoing training at other Emmaus ‘communities’ across the country, in preparation for their East Lancashire roles.

Emmaus officials are now in discussions with Salford Diocese, the owners of St John’s, over the final stages of purchasing the school site.

It is hoped that the St John’s arm of the project will be up and running before the end of March.