LESS than three weeks ago this newspaper highlighted the plight of Barry Pinder who is terminally-ill and confined to the front room of his council home unable to move more than 10 feet from the oxygen machine which is his lifeline.

All he wanted was to be able to spend the remainder of his life (perhaps only four years) in the house that has been home for 34 years without the degradation of being washed, dressed and having to use a chemical toilet in full view of passers by.

This meant construction of a £15,000 ground-floor extension with a downstairs toilet and shower which would remain to benefit another disabled person in future years.

But the council said he would have to face the upheaval of moving to an already converted property because they have a budget of only £20,000 set aside for the year for such adaptations and Mr Pinder's plight would consume almost all of it.

Now Mr Pinder has been visited by eight people from Lancashire Social Services and Ribble Valley Council and his architect is designing an extension for the house after being told that the money WILL be found by the council.

The council's housing manager says the plans will be submitted to councillors for approval "to find the finance from somewhere."

She said this course of action would have been taken even if Mr Pinder had not contacted the press.

If that is the case why didn't the council let Mr Pinder know that and save him all the anxiety that led him to contact us as what he saw as a last resort?

Heaven knows he had enough to worry about already.

An alternative take comes from Liz Silver of the campaigning disability charity RADAR.

She said simply: "It's shameful that it has taken a newspaper article for them to find the money."