BURNLEY has been given the Government green light to press ahead with the £74 million transfer of its entire council house stock to a new local housing company.

The go-ahead was announced by Housing Minister Hilary Armstrong who named Burnley as one of 25 authorities which can proceed to full transfer over the next 12 months.

It leaves Burnley with just two hurdles to negotiate before the 5,300 homes are taken over by the new publicly-owned company in April 2000 - unlocking tens of millions of pounds for much needed home improvements.

One will be the ballot of all tenants in June , which must get majority approval for the sell off to go ahead.

In addition the minister, who was responding to a parliamentary question from Burnley MP Peter Pike, said that only Burnley and Coventry of the 25 were in special difficulty because the value of the housing stock did not cover the mortgage owed on them - a negative equity situation which has to be addressed.

She said: "Transfer will depend on the successful resolution of this issue.

"We plan to issue a consultation paper on how to tackle overhanging debt in the near future.

"Our objective is to enable as wide a range of authorities to consider transfer as possible," the minister added. One suggested solution is for Burnley's cash gap to be filled with money from the profits other authorities will make when they sell off of their houses.

Miss Armstrong's announcement was welcomed today by council community services director Ian Saville: "We are really pleased to have gained the Government's support.

"We still need to have discussions with civil servants about reaching the remaining debt, but we are now very hopeful we will find a solution."

He added: "If our tenants vote for stock transfer we can then begin the major repairs and improvement programmes for our estates."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.