YOUR front page article (LET, April 14) under the headline 'Homes bar shock on Asians' accurately reported some of the issues highlighted in my report on the housing allocations policy.

I feel I need to point out a number of aspects of these issues which need to be clarified.

Firstly, your report did not make clear that the story comes from just two paragraphs contained in a 100-page report which was published five months ago.

My report, in December,1997, gave details of the problems but also explained that proper action has been taken to make sure that the problems will not occur in the future.

As the report states, "It appears that some officers have withheld such offers in a small number of cases, in order to protect applicants from racial harassment. This was an inappropriate method of tackling racial harassment, which has now been replaced by a better procedure."

The article gave the impression that the problem was widespread. In fact, there was only a very small number of cases where officers had withheld offers to ethnic minority applicants based on previous examples of racial harassment near to the vacant property in question. Although this was not a correct practice, the officers withheld offers of a tenancy through genuine concern for the well-being of the tenants and to avoid being accused of intentionally placing vulnerable families in properties where there was a real risk of racial harassment.

This is no longer happening. The correct practice is now applied whereby an applicant who may face racial harassment will be advised of the risk and given the choice of accepting the property or waiting for a more suitable house to become available.

Finally, I would reject the statement by Councillor Fazal Subhan in your article that "Council officers have got away with murder and are still doing so."

Action has been taken to ensure that all aspects of the allocations policy are properly applied in the future. The District Auditor has confirmed that the approved recommendations in my report will address the problems identified.

ROGER ELLIS, Chief Executive, Burnley Council.

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