FINANCES will dominate the festive season for Burnley budget boss Peter Kenyon.

The council resources chairman won't be putting his feet up over the Christmas period -- he'll be wading through a mountain of paperwork to find ways of balancing the books for council taxpayers.

Coun Kenyon warned colleagues the town faces an "extremely difficult" budget round for the coming year, adding there were no large pots of money laying around and waiting to be spent.

He explained today the borough needed to find another £600,000 of savings, over and above those already identified by town hall officers.

He added: "I have asked the officers for a complete set of continuation budget papers and I will be looking at them over he Christmas break, and hopefully identifying areas for further savings."

Meanwhile, neighbouring Pendle has warned council taxpayers they face average bills of more than £700 for the first time next year.

Early projections indicate a six per cent rise in the borough's own share of the demand, with a similar above-inflation call from the county council precept.

On this basis a band A house -- the vast majority of Pendle residents -- would receive a bill of just over £700 while a mid-range Band D home would have a demand of £1,051.