WHERE once stood grim, empty and vandalised unwanted ex-council flats, there now promises to be a real asset to East Lancashire's environment.

For after demolition became the answer to the 50 properties whose neglected condition had blighted the North Road area of Blackburn for almost a decade, it was decided to turn what had been an eyesore into a site to please the eye.

That is because Twin Valley Homes, which took over the town's council houses two years ago, determined to improve the area after the flats were cleared. And rather than leaving the land as a demolition site, the company decided to make it a wildlife meadow for the community.

Working with volunteers from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, the company is paying for the land to be sown with wild-flower seeds and planted with hundreds of trees. The eventual result will be a low-maintenance, natural meadow that is a haven for birds, insects and other creatures.

But though, in addition to the wildlife, it will be the community in the immediate vicinity that benefits most from this gratifying development, the whole of East Lancashire gains when its environment and, in turn, its image is improved.

This back-to-nature scheme is one that deserves to be copied wherever clearance sites are not needed for new developments.