Blackburn with Darwen Council expected to back demolition plans
Councillors are set to approve the demolition of decaying buildings behind a historic library and theatre as a part of a town centre regeneration plan. A report submitted to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council's planning committee recommended the work, which would see the knocking down of a former electricity substation and storage facility at the back of Darwen Library.The plans also involve work to improve the 117-year-old Grade-II listed building's links to the town centre, Market Hall and Town Hall, and forms a key part of the council's planned £6.64m regeneration of the area. The report said the building's revamp would "bring about a multitude of public benefits".
The local authority's executive board last week approved the scrapping of plans for a golf academy and 50 flats.The £2.5m Town Deal cash will instead be spent on the Darwen Market and Civic Quarter Development.The planned improvements to the library complex, on Knott Street, are a key part of that scheme.The demolition plans are expected to be rubber-stamped on Thursday.
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Scottish Sun
19 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Families can get FREE washing machines, fridges and kids' beds or £200 payments this summer – and you can apply now
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BBC News
7 days ago
- BBC News
Glastonbury Town Deal chair Dr Lynne Sedgmore resigns
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BBC News
02-06-2025
- BBC News
Former market trader bids farewell to Derby's Market Hall
For Linda Aston, when the council told her and the Market Hall's other traders that they would have to move out, it was akin to moving out of a family who has now moved her jewellery business to a shop in Cheapside in Derby, said: "[The council] have taken a family home, in my mind, and stolen all the furniture. It's like, everything's gone. I've got no emotion to it. "They've ripped the heart out of it. And once the heart's gone, there's nothing left is there?"The city council said the reopening of the Market Hall is a "catalyst moment in Derby's ongoing regeneration efforts". Linda's grandfather, Michael Doyle, set up the Mecca jewellery stall in the Market Hall in 1925 and the family is marking 100 years of being in business in Derby this year."There were four generations of the family in the Market Hall behind that stall, for all the laughter and all the tears."It was somewhere where you went from very early in your childhood, somewhere where you make your friends. Somewhere where you just sit and have a cup of tea with the neighbouring stalls."It was amazing really, it was just like one big family. And I just hope it continues to be like that for the traders that are in there now," she said. Like many other longstanding traders, Linda, who was also the chair of the Derby Market Hall Traders' Association before its closure, was moved out of the Market Hall for the renovations in was among a group of traders who moved into the Eagle Market in an effort to keep the spirit of their businesses alive and until the Market Hall Derbion closed the market in 2023, causing many of the stalls to either move into bricks and mortar shops, other markets or to close offered the opportunity by the council, not one of the old traders still operating have chosen to return, having spent years establishing themselves say the new venue is not suited to their business. Linda said: "When I looked at the areas that you could go in [in the Market Hall], there was nothing really suitable for me."And the other reason is, I've been in three locations now in under five years. Not a lot of businesses can stand to keep relocating like that."Market life is where my heart is. But I didn't have a choice." When BBC Radio Derby joined her for her first visit to the new venue, entering the building, she observed that it looked "completely different"."Very lively, vibrant. The old roof looks marvellous. It was a lot of money but it was worth saving," she said, in reference to its £13m price tag."They've got a variety of stalls. There's a lot of food," she said, noting the more "traditional" stalls like the she maintained that the new venue would not have worked for the century-old Mecca."The [units] at the side wouldn't have worked and the ones in the middle, definitely not because they're not secure enough."It's such a beautiful building. It [looks] good. Just not for me." Linda said: "I thought I would be emotional coming in here."But I hope [the new traders] can make it happen."It's the end of an era," she added. Derby City Council leader Nadine Peatfield said the reopening of the venue is a "catalyst moment in Derby's ongoing regeneration efforts" and expects it will generate more than "£3.5m for the local economy every year".
