SEVEN million pounds of Euro money is on its way to tackle crime issues in Burnley.

The cash will be used over a five-year period to fund a variety of initiatives directly benefiting around a third of residents in the borough.

A delegation from the council, Government Office for the North West and from Whitehall met the European Commission in Brussels to finalise details.

The "Urban 2" programme will run until 2006 and is seen as a major coup for Burnley as it is the only programme of its kind in the North West.

The money will be used to tackle the high levels of crime in some parts of the town.

It will also give Burnley the opportunity to work closely with other urban programmes throughout Europe and to benefit from their experiences.

Initiatives will help residents and community groups to work together in developing their own ideas on how to improve their areas.

There will be in-depth work with offenders and potential offenders in finding ways of providing them with employment and training opportunities and trying out practical, physical solutions in areas aimed at designing out crime. Burnley's programme was chosen by the government after a competitive selection process with other schemes from across the region.

The council has led the development of the programme over the past 15 months. It is hoped to start on the scheme by the New Year.

The community safety scheme will include Bank Hall, Barclay, Brunshaw, Coal Clough with Deerplay, Daneshouse, Fulledge, Rosehill and Trinity wards.

Council executive member for regeneration, Stephen Wolski, a member of the delegation, said he was delighted with the progress made in Brussels.

He said: "This marks a new development for the council, its partner agencies and communities of Burnley in that we are going to make sure we work very closely with the European Community to get all we can from this major initiative.

"I view it as a significant endorsement from the UK government and Europe of the commitment the council and other agencies have given to working on sometimes difficult issues with Burnley communities.

"It will enable us to undertake even more initiatives that will directly help the borough's most deprived communities. We intend it to be a great success."