THE full extent of East Lancashire's housing problems is well known to national as well as local politicians.

Some examples of our old, decaying housing were shown to Housing Minister Lord Falconer last October. There are plenty of them.

They are the sort of terraced homes that were little more than basic dwellings when they were built well over a century ago.

Now many are derelict and a disgrace.

East Lancashire councils have carefully chronicled the extent of the problem - and presented the government with a bid for £670million over ten years. That's how much they believe will be needed to make a real difference.

Today we hear that Regions Secretary Stephen Byers has announced that Blackburn, Hyndburn, Burnley and Pendle (but not Rossendale which is strangely said to suffer the same problems) will be one of nine new "pathfinder" areas for new proposals to tackle abandoned properties.

Chancellor Gordon Brown is said to be "sympathetic" to the councils' cash bid.

We are told the pathfinder areas will "put the heart and soul back into rundown housing areas" with local residents and organisations developing action plans and working together.

It is good news that our problems appear to have been recognised and that there is a commitment to tackle them.

But no actual cash has been promised and as Liberal Democrat peer Tony Greaves points out: "The devil will be in the detail."

We eagerly await that real detail from the government - and hope that the need to develop action plans will not turn out to be any kind of delaying mechanism.

The situation is critical and East Lancashire needs to be rid of this blight now.

We also need government commitment to provide a specific cash figure - preferably before next month's local government elections.