EAST Lancashire Labour MP Gordon Prentice has bitterly attacked his own government over it's failure to tackle the area's housing crisis.

The Pendle MP asked what money was being made available to councils in East Lancashire to tackle decaying private homes.

New housing minister Sally Keeble said: "We recognise the very significant problems with private sector housing in East Lancashire, and £9.7million has been allocated to the six East Lancashire local authorities this year to improve housing through the Housing Investment Programme.

"Nationally, housing capital resources will rise to some £2.6billion in 2003/04 and East Lancashire should benefit from that increase."

But an angry Mr Prentice replied at Commons Question Time: "That £9.7million sounds like a lot of money, but it is not enough.

"In my constituency, six per cent of houses are empty; across East Lancashire one in five are unfit.

"The task is huge and daunting, involving not just Pendle but Burnley, Hyndburn and Blackburn. Housing is a major policy issue that has not been addressed by this Labour government.

"I call on the minister, her colleagues in the Cabinet and the Prime Minister to recognise that East Lancashire's housing is uniquely appalling and to ensure that we are given special help to remedy some of the problems that are staring us in the face."

Mrs Keeble said: "The problems in your part of the country are well recognised, in particular, those of empty homes and abandoned properties. The government is considering some of those issues and will produce policy proposals to deal with them." But this was not enough for Mr Prentice, who said: "We have had ministerial visits to Pendle and East Lancashire but now we want something more concrete: a new drive to bring our crumbling housing stock up to scratch.

"In some places in Pendle, the housing market has collapsed and you can't give houses away.

"The government has made a commitment to bring social and council housing up to standard in 10 years. That is great news but owner occupation is the norm here. We are living with the dereliction of the past."