BOLTON council will be putting its concerns about private housing to a top Government minister next week.

The council along with others in the North West will meet with Chris Mullin MP, the Minister with Responsibility for Private Sector Renewal, when he attends the North West Housing Forum at the Octagon Theatre next Thursday.

More than 76 per cent of the homes in the North West are privately owned and nearly 12pc of these are unfit. The region has the highest level of unfit private dwellings in England.

A large part of the problem can be attributed to the region's industrial past and the high number of densely packed terraced housing (pre-1919) that were built to meet demand at that time.

In Bolton, almost 30 per cent of the town's homes, some 30,500 properties, were built before 1919. Council experts have already said that without improvement work, older homes will decay and whole areas slump into decline.

The Forum is looking to press the government for more investment in the private sector in the region and to influence legislation.

Councillor Noel Spencer, Chair of the Forum and Cabinet Member for Housing at Bolton MBC said that the Minister's visit was an important part of pushing for extra resources for renewing the private sector.

"Although I am pleased Bolton has a leading role, we have learned that by working together we can achieve far more than we could as individual bodies. After all it is a regional and national problem and involves not just the people who live in such conditions, councils and private landlords but a whole host of other bodies engaged in private sector regeneration.

"In the North West we believe we have a very strong case for extra resources and we are pleased to be able to put our case to the minister."

The North West Housing Forum brings together Council Housing Departments from Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside, Housing Association representatives, the Regional Development Agency and Regional Assembly, The Housing Corporation, the Government Office North West, the Local Government Association, the Northern Housing Consortium, National Housing Federation, Institute of Housing, the House Builders Federation, Shelter with representatives from Building Societies and Banks.

The Forum will be meeting the Minister at the Octagon Theatre. Investment