AREAS of Pendle left with derelict housing after the collapse of Government funding could be transformed by an art project.

The In Situ project is set to be benefit from £30,000 funding from Lancashire County Council to look at improving the Brierfield and Bradley areas of the borough.

The scheme is seeking innovative ways to develop areas left in limbo following the withdrawal of housing market renewal (HMR) funding.

In an application for funding to county hall, a spokesman for the project said: “The demise of the governments housing market renewal (HMR) programme at a mid-point in its work will have a significant impact on some of the most disadvantaged communities across Pennine Lancashire over the coming years.

“Some neighbourhood areas are currently in a state of real flux, with housing demolished or acquired ready for demolition, and sites cleared waiting for development.

“Communities have been broken up, or are fractured, and there is little hope of significant new funding pots being available to purchase and demolish properties, or to kick start development on cleared sites.

“The task, and the real opportunity opening up, is for communities to think radically about their neighbourhoods and create new and imaginative regeneration solutions that put local people in the driving seat.”

The project is set to last two years initially and will see artists spending times in the neighbourhoods and with residents to find solutions and potential uses for vacant land and buildings.

Funding of £35,000 has also been secured from the British Art Council’s Inspire programme.