WATCHDOG councillors are to look at efforts to crackdown on Shisha bars in Blackburn and Darwen.

They have now received a report from the environment department on current progress to deal with the mushrooming number of such premises in the borough.

Jim Shorrock, who chairs the council’s Policy and Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said the cross-party body had now put the issue of Shisha bars at the top of its agenda for the coming year.

He promised it would ‘consider a broad range of issues when analysing and conducting its review’.

The Shadsworth with Whitebirk Labour councillor welcomed the news that borough officials were making renewed efforts to get owners to comply with anti-smoking and health and safety laws with one facing prosecution.

He also revealed to the Blackburn with Darwen’s full council forum that the committee would be examining the progress of the borough’s efforts to tackle scrap metal theft.