BURNLEY will bid for permission to spend £4.6million on housing next year -- and lobby the Government Office North West for even more cash to tackle the town's major housing problems.

The lion's share of the draft bid for improvements is earmarked to go to the Burnley Wood and Accrington Road Single Regeneration Budget area and to Daneshouse and Stoneyholme -- the poorest housing districts in the borough.

Council officers say the men from the ministry have already indicated Burnley's bid is "almost certainly over-optimistic" but are recommending the council executive to approve the draft bid and press for more money because of the scale of the problems and needs in the borough.

Poor housing was one of the main reasons given for unrest which exploded into the recent riots in the town and council chiefs are expected to use this as a strong argument to lever more money for improvements.

Discontent in white areas was also fuelled by a perception that too high a proportion of available housing cash was going to the Asian-dominated Daneshouse district -- a view strongly rejected by council chiefs, who argued the most impoverished area of town was only now receiving housing help after waiting many years, while other districts underwent major improvements.

The Government is expected to announce just how much will be allocated to Burnley in December.

Clearance schemes costing £1.9million have been pencilled in for the SRB area, with a further £440,000 earmarked for Daneshouse.

Housing grants of £1.3million for the whole borough are assumed. Group repair schemes worth £500,000 are targeted for Daneshouse.

Daneshouse and Burnley Wood would share £146,000 for environmental improvement works, with £90,000 going to the SRB district, in the draft scheme.