BURNLEY Council has been accused of giving landlords an easy ride after it was revealed nearly £45,000 is to be spent on demolishing a dilapidated house.

Properties in Accrington Road, Daneshouse, and Burnley Wood, are being demolished as part of the council's clearance programme.

This year, nearly 140 properties in Burnley have been compulsory purchased after the money, funded by Market Renewal Pathfinder money and SRB funding, aims to make a lasting difference to a town where property prices have slumped and rundown housing blights large areas.

The council approved plans to buy, demolish and rebuild a gable wall at 58 Prestwich Street, which has been vacant since August 2000, after residents complained about the state of the house.

But council officials said they were spending £4.7 million this year, compared with £2.3 million in neighbouring Pendle over three years, in a mammoth effort to get the town's housing market back on track.

Tony Lambert, Trinity ward councillor, said: "That is why a lot of properties in Burnley are in the state they are in. This is what their owners are hoping for.

"The residents will probably be pleased that the house is going to be pulled down at last and I should think the owner has made a tidy profit out of it.

"The council knows the residents want this doing and that is why they are probably going along with it.

"The council is trying to license landlords at the moment and there are a lot of good ones. But some are just out to make an easy profit." But landlord Bob Hale said he sold the property after repeated problems with vandalism.

He said: "I didn't want to let the property go because I have twice spent money on it after it had been vandalised. But you can't carry on doing that forever.

"Since I sold it, the area seems to have got better but vandalism is the reason the house was derelict and needed demolition." Michelle Hall, project officer for Housing and Renewal said they did not prosecute landlords for allowing properties to fall into disrepair.

She said there were between 3,500 and 4,000 vacant properties in the borough.

"It is not up to us or the government to decide how people manage their property.

"We have a set budget each year, which is more this year for clearance in general. The number of properties we place compulsory orders on is high because of the level of unfit and vacant houses in the borough.

"The supply is too high in the borough which is why we are carrying out clearance projects in many parts of the town."