AN East Lancashire borough has been given £300,000 to educate children in deprived areas about road safety.

The money, from the Department for Transport's 'Dealing with Disadvantage' initiative, has been given to Blackburn with Darwen Council in a bid to correct a national imbalance.

Research found that children from deprived areas are five times more likely to be injured than their affluent counterparts.

The cash could be spent on:

Making routes to school and play areas safer

Anti-speeding campaigns

Education for children on the dangers of the roads

Traffic calming measures and pedestrian crossings.

In total, £11.6million has been give to the North West, although there were no other recipients in East Lancashire.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said: "This money will do a great deal to improve road safety in these areas.

"Too many children are killed and injured on the roads and we are committed to reducing that number.

"Sadly, people from deprived areas are much more likely to be involved in road accidents. This money will be dedicated to some of the poorer areas, where there are road safety problems that we need to tackle."

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council officers proposed several ideas when they bid for the cash. They will find out next week which proposal the £300,000 will pay for.

Coun Andy Kay, executive member for regeneration at the council, welcomed the news and added: "We are delighted that we have received finding for extra road safety measures.

"We are now awaiting further information to find out which of the schemes we submitted has been successful."