Outbuildings to be demolished in £6m town revamp

Decaying buildings at the back of a Grade-II listed library, which are a potential magnet for anti-social behaviour, can now be cleared as the first stage of a major revamp.

Blackburn with Darwen Council planning committee has granted planning permission and listed building consent for the work behind Darwen Library.

The work at the 117-year-old Lancashire building is part of a £6.64m regeneration of the town centre and market hall and will prepare the way for future major improvement works to the library and associated theatre.

Conservative planning spokesman Paul Marrow said: "This will be a major improvement to a real asset to the borough."

Committee chairman and Darwen West Labour councillor Dave Smith also welcomed the proposals.

Earlier this month the authority's executive board approved the scrapping of plans for a golf academy and 50 flats in favour of using the £2.5m of Town Deal cash earmarked for the projects on the Darwen Market and Civic Quarter Development.

The improvements to the Knott Street library complex are a key part of the first phase of that scheme.

Planning manager Gavin Prescott told councillors the proposals involve the demolition of a single-storey detached outbuilding and small brick outrigger attached to the Library Theatre.

He said: "The proposals comprise of enabling works and are required to facilitate a larger development to revamp the Library Theatre, which will be the subject of future applications and bring about a multitude of public benefits.

"The larger building was originally constructed for use as an electricity substation.

"No specific planning records exist for construction of the substation or small brick outrigger, which appears to have also been used for storage.

"The larger building appears to have been constructed in the 1960s with the smaller building appearing older.

"Given the style of the buildings, their loss would not lead to any adverse visual amenity complications."

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