EAST Lancashire's poorest areas have been awarded more than £15million to tackle deprivation -- but one council claims the award is not enough.

Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen and Hyndburn Councils have been included in the Department of Transport Local Government and Regions' (DTLR) 88 most deprived boroughs in England and therefore qualify for the windfalls.

According to the DTLR, Blackburn came 11th, Burnley 47th and Hyndburn 52 in the league of deprivation.

Tower Hamlets in the east end of London was deemed to be England's most deprived region.

The money, allocated for the first time, will be distributed over three years.

Blackburn with Darwen will receive £9.75m, Hyndburn £2.91m, but despite the disturbances in Burnley in June, the town will get only £2.86m.

That works out at £69.67 per head of population in Blackburn and Darwen, £48.50 for Hyndburn and £30.47 for Burnley.

However, a spokesman for Burnley Borough Council said they were "disappointed" with the amount of money awarded.

He added: "At the end of the day they made their decision. We put forward a case and they allocated the money.

"We appreciate what we have got and we will try and do our best and make changes with it.

"It is disappointing that we haven't got more, bearing in mind the extent of deprivation we face within those areas of Burnley deemed to be the most deprived, but we will try our best to maximise the use of the money."

Bidding for this year's allocation has already been completed in Burnley and organisations from Lancashire Fire and Rescue to neighbourhood watch schemes will benefit.

A spokesman for the DTLR said that this year's racial disturbances would not be taken into account when the decisions on the distribution were made. Factors considered include housing, employment, incomes and child poverty. The same indicators are used to assess a borough's most deprived areas.

The money will be sent to Neighbourhood Renewal Funds, who will distribute cash and fund Local Strategic Partnerships.

They will look at ways of improving the delivery of services from public, private and voluntary sectors.

Organisations will submit bids to local councils, outlining why and how they would improve service delivery.

The Government Minister responsible for Neighbourhood Renewal, Lord Falconer said: "Local strategic partnerships must focus everyone's skills and energies -- residents, voluntary and community groups, businesses and public sector agencies -- to provide the momentum to deliver decent local services and boost the renewal of their neighbourhoods.

"There must be a catalyst for a wide range of people to join forces to ensure that local services tackle the specific problems of their areas, such as housing, education, crime, employment, health and the local environment."

A spokesman for Hyndburn Borough Council said they were pleased with the allocation.

Projects in Hyndburn that are already supported include Communicare NHS Trust's Health Heart campaign and Woodnook Community Forum.

Councillor Bill Taylor, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, commented: "We are delighted that Blackburn with Darwen will receive £9.75 million from the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund over the next three years.

"This additional resource will be focused on early intervention to reduce deprivation across the borough.

"The council will be working closely with its partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors to target specific groups within our community for additional help; these group include: people with disabilities, elderly people and vulnerable families and children.

"In addition, we will be using some of the extra money for specific area-based initiatives within communities." Burnley's MP, Peter Pike said that without seeing the figures and the details of the awards it would be difficult to compare Burnley with other boroughs.