AN East Lancashire council has been short-listed for two prestigious awards which could lead to it becoming a shining example to other authorities.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is in the running to receive Beacon Status for two of the services it provides. The awards are given to councils noted by the Government to have achieved excellence in service and result in the authority being used as an example to other councils who may not be doing so well.

The council put forward its Library and Business Support services for the awards which recognise excellent practice in providing services for the public. The Council's 'Libraries as a Community Resource' and 'Fostering Business Growth' bids are among 77 to be short-listed from an initial 130 applications by the Department for Transport, Local Government and Regions.

Councillor Bill Taylor, leader of the council, said: "We pride ourselves on striving to provide excellent services for the people of our borough -- we were one of the very first councils to be presented with a Beacon Status award for our Education Service three years ago.

"To be short-listed again for not one but two awards, shows that we are delivering quality services to the public across the council.

"Our libraries have a very high level of use among our community - with 9,109 visits for every thousand population compared to just 6,300 nationally. Our satisfaction rating at 75 per cent is also higher than the national average of 69 per cent. We have increased opening hours twice to provide services when people need them most, and we are developing services, through e-technology all the time. Our business support service has a list of successful projects from provision of managed workspace schemes, land and property development, entrepreneurship programmes, training schemes and use of technology and e-commerce support.

"Our genuine desire to see businesses in the area flourish has contributed towards the creation of 8,000 jobs in the past seven years and over £100 million of new investment secured, with unemployment rates falling from twice the national average in 1987 to the national average by the year 2000."

Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford said: "Applying to be a Beacon council takes much time and effort and to have got this far shows how much these councils care about the services they provide to the community -- this is a significant achievement."