Levelling up: Blackburn bids for £40m of funding

A new skills and education campus is planned for the current Brown Street car park

A council is bidding for £40m of levelling up funds from the government to help transform Blackburn town centre and improve transport links.

Blackburn with Darwen Council wants to build a new skills and education centre and upgrade junction five of the M65.

The plans form part of the first phase of the council's £250m masterplan for the town centre.

Council leader Cllr Phil Riley said the funding could be "truly transformational for our borough".

The new £60m skills and education campus is planned for the current Brown Street car park next to the former Thwaites Brewery site, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council said the campus, which will be developed with a leading North-West university, will be at the "heart" of proposed Blackburn Business Innovation District, which is estimated to bring £1bn of economic activity to the borough over the next decade.

"The £40m would immediately unlock a further £50m of investment and would accelerate our plans for the skills campus by a good five years while setting out the infrastructure we need to underpin our ambitious plans," Mr Riley said.

'Bold and ambitious'

Blackburn MP Kate Hollern has also expressed her support for the "bold and ambitious" plans.

"In spite of many challenges, Blackburn's economy continues to grow and it is essential that the council works to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support more jobs," she said.

The council is also finalising a submission for £6.5m from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and an extra £13.5m in additional investment.

If successful, the levelling-up bid would be in addition to £25m of government Town Deal cash which has already been secured for Darwen.

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