BURNLEY is looking to Londoners to move up North and fill the empty former council houses now run by Burnley and Padiham community housing.

London boroughs, including Westminster and Haringey, are taking part in the initiative.

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

"Haringey in North London spends £800,000 a year to put people in bed and breakfast accommodation and it is in their interest to work with us."

Burnley has 438 former council houses standing empty. That compares with 538 at Christmas but the target is 377 by next March.

The first Londoner has moved in -- with seven others in the initial stages expressing strong interest and expected to follow. Anyone interested is offered a guided tour of the town and its facilities. That is expected to gather momentum in the coming months. In March around 20 housing officers from London boroughs came to Burnley for a presentation at Turf Moor, followed by a mini-bus tour of Burnley's estates, including those in South West Burnley and the town centre.

Mr Sample said: "We can offer affordable permanent accommodation."

He said some Londoners' idea of moving north was to Barnet rather than Burnley but those who had shown an interest were impressed by what Burnley had to offer, the amount of greenery and the nearby hills.

The housing group is celebrating winning a national honour from the Empty Homes Agency good practice awards.

Other initiatives being undertaken by housing group include offering small blocks of empty property to private developers, former small enclaves to break up some of the larger estates and to open a property shop in the town centre.

Another initiative is in providing partly-furnished or fully furnished properties for rent, especially useful for people leaving home for the first time, people moving into town or people whose relationship has broken down. That will be very similar to an estate agency providing a choice of property and offering advice and information. During the next year the group will spend £4.2 million on day to day repairs, and £2 million on improvements. The £5.8 million will be on customer services included the one-stop shop and other schemes.