Where Blackburn town deal cash is spent could be changed

Plans for a golf academy and 50 flats in Darwen have been ditched by senior councillors in favour of using the £2.5million of town deal cash earmarked for the projects on the regeneration of its market hall and civic quarter.

The switch in government cash means that a total of £6.64m will now be spent on upgrading the town centre.

The change was authorised by Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive board on Thursday night subject to approval by Whitehall officials.

It was told that the Darwen Town Deal board which oversees the investment of £25m of government cash and up to £12.5m of council investment had agreed to make changes to its development programme.

The meeting signed off a report from borough growth boss Cllr Quesir Mahmood which said: “The original Town Centre Living Project proposal and subsequent business case to construct 50 apartments across two Town Centre sites has proven to be unviable, given prevailing market conditions, site complexities, planning challenges, and increasing construction costs.

“The Darwen Sports Village comprised of four separate but linked projects, three of which have been or are close to being delivered.

“However, the fourth project, the development of a new Golf Academy and Driving Range has not proved feasible to progress.

“There was only one potential site identified for this project, which is currently in private ownership, so the project depended on the deliverability of this site.

“Due to the costs of remediation and site preparation, after extensive investigations the project was assessed as unaffordable.

“A new commercial venture, GoGolf has invested in Eccleshill, Darwen, with coaching and virtual golf driving bays therefore some of the proposed activity has been delivered by a private operator.

“The largest and most complex town deal project is the Darwen Market and Civic Quarter Development.

“A key focus of this project is the re-development of the Market Hall, and replacement of the Market car park, linked to major upgrades of Darwen Library and Theatre.

“Works will also improve connected public realm and key gateways.

“Detailed designs and planning are under way with the aim of delivering the transformational centre piece of the Darwen Town Investment Plan.

“The council is in regular contact with market traders on emerging proposals and timelines.”

The council has also announced that the car parks at Darwen Market will be closed for periods between Monday February 24 and Friday February 28 to allow for investigation works.

The bottom, middle and rooftop car parks will be shut on Monday and Tuesday February 24 and 25 with the bottom and middle car parks remaining closed between Wednesday February 26 and Friday February 28.