PROGRESS has been slow on a trial project to improve the standard of rented accommodation in Darwen.

Just 100 licences have been issued to landlords as part of the Selective Landlord Licencing scheme.

Under the compulsory scheme, landlords must pay £500 for a five-year licence which means they have been rated as a “fit and proper person” by the council.

Another 78 applications are pending, and bosses admit there has been “a lack of landlord co-operation”.

An attempt to get feedback from tenants has also had a “very poor” response, with just two per cent of 400 questionnaires returned.