EDUCATION in East Lancashire will receive a £1.4million boost next year.

The Government has revealed that Lancashire County Council will receive an extra £1.2million towards its budget from next April.

Figures released by the Department for Education and Employment have also showed that Blackburn with Darwen Council will receive an additional £190,000.

Urgent talks will take place between the Government and the individual councils to discuss how the extra money should be spent.

The money - a share of an extra £50million announced nationally - is over and above what local education authorities expected to receive.

The extra money will come on top of the increase in LEA funding announced last week.

Lancashire County Council has had a 5.33 per cent increase in its standard spending assessment while Blackburn with Darwen received a 4.36 per cent rise.

The news comes after County Hall indicated that council tax bills across East Lancashire could rise up to 6.5 per cent next year.

Borough councils are still examining their budgets and trying to calculate how much council tax will have to go up.

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