LONDONERS who have relocated are finding that life in Burnley is just capital.

Ten empty former council houses now run by the Burnley and Padiham Housing Company are now homes to people from London boroughs.

One of the first to arrive and settle in one of the estates in South West Burnley is single mum Patricia Dolan, who moved from Brent.

She said: "I have come from the worst of the worst, this is just like Heaven to me."

She arrived with her two daughters, Aisling, seven, and Megan, five, just before the Burnley rioting but said: "The trouble where we lived happened all the time.

"One one occasion I was with the children when people from one car shot someone in another car.

"Recently the street outside our church was cordoned off and we found that someone had been shot dead.

"Compared to that, Burnley is a haven of peace."

Burnley and Padiham housing is looking to Londoners to move up North and fill the empty former council houses.

Ten London boroughs are taking part in the initiative.

Community housing manager Martin Sample said London had 48,000 in temporary accommodation for 18 months or two years and in some cases for a lot longer than that.

He said Haringey in North London spent £800,000 a year to put people in bed and breakfast accommodation and it was in their interests to work with Burnley.

Burnley has more than 400 former council houses standing empty.

So far only a trickle of tenants has moved north but that could turn into a flow as the result of further advertising in the capital's boroughs.

Patricia and her daughters spent the last four and a half years in "temporary" accommodation in Stonebridge Park in London NW10 and with no prospects of a move. Patricia said: "We were on the first floor of a high rise building in a two-bedroom flat. There was nowhere for the children to play.

"There were all kinds of intruders in the corridors with false identity cards.

"I would not even let my girls go next door on their own.

"I was too frightened to go out alone at night, it was too dangerous because of the rapes and shootings. "

That accommodation cost £197 a week although it was paid through housing benefit.

The semi-detached fully furnished house in South West Burnley with front and back gardens costs £80.89p.

After seeing information in a Brent Council leaflet about homes available in Burnley, Catherine and her daughters travelled to Lancashire in May.

She said: "I knew nothing about Burnley and had only really heard about it in the football league tables."

At Burnley she was met by housing company officers who took her on a tour of the town.

The first thing that struck them was the number of parks and green areas and the views of the countryside, including Pendle Hill.

They were shown health and education facilities, local estates and shopping areas.

The girls quickly settled down and made new friends both on the estate and at St Augustine's RC primary school, Rosegrove.

Patricia has plans to take a City and Guilds caring for young children course at Burnley College.

They have now been here for five weeks. Patricia said: "My first impression was that I felt very comfortable here and that it was a place where I would like to live.

"There are no crowds like you get in London, the air is fresher and different and the people are very friendly.

"I like the town centre because everything is available in a compact area."

She added: "I know that some of the estates up here have a bad reputation locally and that there were riots ten years ago.

"Once an area gets a bad name it sticks like mud but as I said before it is like Heaven to me."