Council to spend £78,000 on staff car parking

Blackburn with Darwen Council will rent 250 additional parking spaces

Town hall bosses will spend £78,000 to ensure staff and councillors have enough parking spaces during major redevelopment works.

Blackburn with Darwen Council said it will rent 250 more spaces at The Mall shopping centre in Blackburn when work starts on a skills and education campus.

A report by the local authority's environment lead, Councillor Jim Smith, said: "Brown Street car park is already over-subscribed for permit parking and has capacity pressures.

"From May or soon after, 137 car parking spaces will be unavailable due to work commencing on the development."

A new multimillion-pound skills and education campus is to be built in Blackburn

The report added: "There will be 183 remaining car parking spaces on Brown Street along with 60 spaces on Penny Street.

"Currently 518 car parking passes have been issued, therefore the council needs to identify additional town-centre parking provision."

The report said staff who pay £20 per month can use car parks within the town centre including Feilden Street, Duke Street, Brown Street, Penny Street and The Mall.

The council has negotiated a rental deal for 250 parking spaces on The Mall in addition to its current 50, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"The net additional cost is estimated to be £78,000 and can be funded from within existing budgets," the report added.