COUNCIL bosses today declared war on grime in a bid to make its borough more attractive.

But what exactly will it be spending the extra £1million on and just how bad is Blackburn with Darwen? DAVID HIGGERSON finds out.

BACK streets covered with ripped-open binbags, waste ground covered in rubbish, town centre flowerbeds strewn with litter -- all common sights in and around Blackburn and Darwen.

While Blackburn with Darwen Council has excelled and won awards for 'people services' like education and social services, environmental issues have slipped into the background.

It is a state of affairs which council leader Bill Taylor readily admits to.

But not for much longer - at least that is what the town's leaders hope following today's launch of Thrash Our Trash.

With an extra £1million going into a budget which already stands at more than £6million-a-year, residents have been told to expect big improvements.

Coun Taylor said: "We made a conscious decision to focus on people services like social services and education. We have made great strides forward but have become aware of concern about the state of our environment.

"This has come through our citizens' panel consultations, through the government's assessment of us and through other things, like stories in the Evening Telegraph.

"It's not an area where we are failing, but an area where there's no doubt we can improve."

The council is already appointing town centre rangers, responsible for things like monitoring car parking, offering information to shoppers and even administering first aid. But two of them will deal specifically with environmental duties, looking for litterbugs or firms that fail to keep town centres tidy.

Town centre caretakers have also been appointed. Their jobs will include maintaining flowerbeds and planters, clearing up litter, keeping street furniture presentable, removing chewing gum, graffiti and fly-posters.

Along with the town centre, the shopping centres in districts - such as Mill Hill - will get extra litter bins. Across the borough, backstreet cleaning will be increased from six to eight times a year, and an extensive campaign will try to ensure that once cleaned, streets stay clean.

Skips will be placed in communities once a month to give people somewhere to dump extra rubbish, in a bid to reduce fly-tipping after complaints went up by 60 per cent in the last year.

Clean-ups will take place on council-owned open spaces, once community groups identify which sites are the worst. Action will be taken against private landowners who don't keep sites tidy.

The council also aims to reduce 'clutter' on some streets -- such as signs which are no longer relevant -- to make roads look tidier. Old signs will be replaced, while road lines will be improved in some areas to reduce accidents. Extra street lighting will be placed in certain areas to help make people feel safer.

With the extra money comes the warning that the people who continue to dump rubbish face prosecution.

But those who do get involved will be asked to sign up for 'pledge cards' which promise to help keep the borough tidy. A huge publicity campaign will be also launched this week, and over the next few months schools will be targeted to help teach youngsters good habits.

Coun Andy Kay, in charge of regeneration, said: "We'll make it easier for people to report fly-tipping, graffiti and other eyesores and encourage residents, community groups and schools to get together to improve the environment. We'll also encourage people to recycle waste as much as possible. We want to care for the environment in every way."

The government's performance indicators for cleanliness of the borough state only around half of the people in Blackburn with Darwen were satisfied with the state of the borough's environment at present, compared with a national average of 63.4 per cent, or 54 per cent of metropolitan authorities, which tend to have the same urban issues as Blackburn with Darwen.