HYNDBURN Council has launched a competition for residents to name the new council offices which will open in June.

Around £1.8million has been spent converting the historic building of Accrington's Scaitcliffe House, the former canteen for textile machinery manufacturers Howard and Bullough before it became Platt's. Now local people are being given the opportunity to rename the revamped building.

Hyndburn Council Leader Coun Peter Britcliffe said: "This building belongs to everyone in Hyndburn and everyone will have to use it at some time so I think that it is important that as many people as possible have their say ."

As an incentive to christen the new council HQ, a £100 prize has been put up for the person who chooses the name which goes on the building.

Three names have already been suggested to link in with the 50th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and the history of Hyndburn. They are: Jubilee House, Queen Elizabeth House and Scaitcliffe House but council bosses have said they will welcome imaginative suggestions of all kinds.

In the event of a tie between appropriate names, the title will be decided in the old fashioned way of drawing names from a hat.

The council's move was prompted by the sell-on of its existing Eagle Street premises, currently owned by Lancashire Enterprises, to a development firm who could not guarantee their future -- or the level of rent -- on the site for any length of time.

This move from the current site in Eagle Street to the building currently known as Scaitcliffe House, in Ormerod Street, will be carried out in June.

Refurbishment of the three-storey Scaitcliffe Houses, along with a single-storey extension for new meeting rooms and a reception, to make it suitable for council use, have cost £1.8million.

Suggestions for new names along with a brief reason for the choice should be sent to Coun Peter Britcliffe at the Eagle Street council offices in Accrington by the end of April.