JUST 222 new homes were built under East Lancashire’s £300million housing regeneration scheme, an official report has revealed.

But Housing Market Renewal (HMR) made ‘good progress’ and hit its targets, according to the Audit Commission.

And it warned the incomplete project would be threatened without more investment.

Under HMR, 10 areas, including East Lancashire, were given cash to demolish and renovate run-down housing, and build replacements in an attempt to stimulate the local market.

The 15-year programme, started in 2003, has now been cancelled by the coalition government.

In its final verdict on the scheme, the commission said the scheme, run by Elevate, had ‘consistently met annual targets’ despite building fewer homes than other areas.

A total of 6,537 properties were renovated across Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, and 2,602 were demolished.

No prediction was made in 2003 of the number of homes to be built.

But the report paints a bleak picture of the local economy.

It said the area was still ‘characterised by extremely low property values’, just 53 per cent of the national average, and the number of empty homes was ‘a significant issue’.

Populations were not growing as fast as other areas, it said, with the number of people living in Burnley in particular going down.

Not as much public and private investment had been brought in as a result of the cash injection, but more than 2,000 jobs had been created.

In its conclusions, the commission wrote: "In all areas commitments made to communities are not yet fully realised.

"The slowing down or stopping of investment will undermine these commitments, potentially threatening neighbourhood sustainability."

Graham Jones, the Labour MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, accused the Government of "pulling the rug out from under people living in some of the worst deprived areas in the country".

But Jake Berry, the Conservative MP for Rossendale and Darwen, slammed the small number of houses built, adding: "HMR has not delivered value for money."

Click on the link below to read the full report (PDF format.