THE Government has given councils a £5.5 million Christmas bonus to spend on housing in East Lancashire.

The figure was announced by Government minister Hilary Armstrong in Parliament earlier this week.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has been allocated £3.28 million for its annual housing budget, a slight increase on last year's figure.

But it has been given £1.8 million extra, the highest in East Lancashire, under the Government's capital receipts initiative.

The Labour Government funded the scheme with money raised from the sale of council houses.

Cash was shared out on the basis of council's performance and Rossendale and Pendle have been criticised for their poor records.

Labour leaders at Blackburn town hall have welcomed the move. Housing and community services vice-chairman Mike Barratt said: "It is most pleasing to see that our new Government has increased our overall housing allocation by 50 per cent. "This is a remarkable change from the 30 per cent reduction that the previous Government imposed on us this time last year."

He added: "This is still not enough money and we will continue to press our case to ministers.

"But this is still a totally different position than last year and it shows that the new Government is listening to us about our housing problem."

Burnley has been given £1.9 million along with an extra £1 million under the new scheme.

Hyndburn's annual settlement is £1.5 million plus an extra £680,000 while Pendle Council is to get £1.5 million and a bonus of £800,000.

Rossendale has been given £1.1 million and £810,000 under the new initiative and the Ribble Valley is to receive £500,000 plus an extra £300,000.

A spokesman for Pendle Council said he would be "waiting to see the colour of the money" before making any comment.

But Ribble Valley chief executive Dave Morris said the windfall was great news and would be used for the benefit of council tenants to instal central heating and carry out major improvements to houses.

The Government has also given councils ratings on housing policies, management and performance records.

Most East Lancashire authorities were labelled average but Rossendale and Pendle have been criticised for being below average.

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