Extra money pledged for renovation of King George’s Hall

An extra £1million is to be pumped into the multi-million pound renovation of Blackburn’s King George’s Hall.

The cash will be used to deliver enhanced works to key public areas, bars and seating layouts.

The new investment is revealed in a report to Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive board meeting on Thursday by growth boss Cllr Quesir Mahmood.

In addition to the extra spending on the revamp of East Lancashire’s premier entertainment venue the report also asks for approval to top up the £4.3m of government cash allocated to doubling the size of Darwen Youth Centre in Knott Street wi9th an extra storey and to the transformation of Audley and Queen’s Park Children’s Centre into a seven days-a-week youth hub.

The £2,5m for the additional works will be transferred from the capital budget for the redevelopment of the former Thwaites Brewery site in Blackburn town centre currently stalled after Morrison’s pulled out of its proposal to build a new superstore on part of the land.

Cllr Mahmood’s report ‘requests additional capital funding support for two major growth programme initiatives: our BwD Youth Investment Fund Programme, and King George’s Hall Upgrade.

“If agreed, additional council investment support would complement government funding, and enable these specific initiatives to deliver better outcomes for the borough, service users, and customers.”

The report says: “The King George’s Hall (KGH) Upgrade is the largest funded element of our Levelling Up Partnership programme, with works starting in earnest in early 2025 until the autumn.

“A detailed project delivery plan has identified the opportunity to extend these works further with government funding securing improvements to the structure and function of KGH, with an additional council capital funding contribution of up to £1m (making the overall budget provision £9m) enabling the project team to deliver enhanced works to key public areas, bars and seating layouts.

“To this end, the executive board is asked to agree to up to £1m being made available from the council’s capital programme to enhance the planned KGH upgrade.”

The report also details the new investment proposed for the Darwen Youth Centre and Audley and Queen’s Park Children’s Centre projects.

It says: “In 2023, the council, with partners, successfully secured nearly £8m in new government funding, via the Youth Investment Fund, for four youth centres in the borough – two of the council’s centres (Darwen and Audley), along with Blackburn Youth Zone and Together Housing Group’s youth facility on the Shadsworth Estate.

“The council’s own programme element secured £4.3m of the overall government allocation.

“The delivery programmes for Darwen and Audley are now nearly finalised, with works to commence in early 2025.

“To deliver this programme, additional council capital funding is required to secure the Government’s investment and deliver high quality facilities for our young people.

“It is recommended that the council provides up to £1.5m in additional capital funding to secure the available government investment and progress our delivery programme.”