HYNDBURN council has admitted it will probably have to sell off all its council houses because it cannot afford to keep them.

And although housing director Ken Bury reassured tenants that they would have the final say, he said it was a 'Hobson's choice' because of the financial situation the council faced.

Mr Bury said that the council already has a £2million shortfall to bring its homes up to basic standards. The Government had only given them it permission to spend £2million this year and it needed to spend £4million.

He said they expect to face another £6.1m bill in seven years time because the number of homes in need of work will increase from 664 today to 2,544 in 2010.

He also said that as two-thirds of the borough's homes were built in the 1970s they are in need of major structural repairs, which they also cannot afford.

Hyndburn Council is currently considering four options for the future of their homes. This option appraisal, which all council's have to complete by 2005, will be finished in November.

The options are: retaining control; setting up a body to manage the homes but under council ownership; creating an independent body like Twin Valley Homes, in Blackburn, launched in 2002, and Burnley and Padiham Community Housing launched the year before and transferring the homes to that; and setting up a private finance initiative to get external funding.

Mr Bury said both Twin Valley and Burnley and Padiham's housing company had been extremely successful since their inception because they had been able to offer tenants a better service and an improved environment to live in.

Dave Goodyear, 57, of Ribblesdale Avenue, Accington, chairman of the tenants' partnership with the council, said: "The council has to tell us what the best options are. It is pointless having half the information."