RESIDENTS in South West Burnley are demanding full consultation on how Burnley Council intends to spend the borough's £15million share of Government regeneration money announced last week.

Trinity Action Group has already raised concerns about the proposals included in the Neighbourhood Action Plan for South West Burnley, which was submitted as part of the Elevate bid.

The group claims that at a meeting in October council leader Councillor Stuart Caddy told residents that the action plans for Daneshouse with Stoneyholme, South West Burnley and Burnley Wood, were put together simply to get the money. They claim he said detailed work on how it would be spent would start after the money had been allocated.

But TAG members, who were critical about the level of consultation with residents over the Neighbourhood Action Plans, are not convinced that their opinions will be taken into account and they are to challenge Coun Caddy at a public meeting at the Howard Street Health Centre, on Saturday, at 2pm.

Sarah Green, of Palatine Square, in Trinity, said: "We have no faith or trust in the council being open and honest with us.

"We need the council to believe and have faith in the community to put forward proper plans and ideas for their own area.

"We realise that some houses have to come down, we appreciate that, but we believe that many can be remodelled, so that the character of the areas is not lost.

"We also want to see the stone from any houses demolished used in any new homes that are built."

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Coun Caddy reassured residents that they would be fully consulted on the proposals for their areas.

He said: "The Neighbourhood Action Plans were needed for the bid. We worked with the community to develop them.

"What we want now is real active engagement with residents to ensure that they get a better place to live and that we create a better, sustainable community for all three areas."

Mike Waite, from the council's market and community renewal team, added: "There is still a lot of detailed work to still to do and on-going discussion and consultation with residents will be at the heart of that.

"We want to move quickly and start delivering changes and benefits for the areas involved, but we also want to take the time to develop the proposals in consultation with residents."

A briefing and information session for residents about the Elevate programme is being held at Burnley FC on Monday, April 5.