A COURT case has sparked a geographical debate regarding the 'true' location of Lower Darwen.

A solicitor who described himself as "Darwen born and bred" struck a blow for his hometown "sovereignty" during a case heard by magistrates.

Damien Pickup argued that his client had not entered Blackburn, in breach of a monitoring tag condition of his bail, because he had gone no further than Lower Darwen.

Mr Pickup said: "I have lived in Darwen all my life and in my book he has not entered Blackburn.

"Clearly there is some ambiguity in the wording of the bail condition and I will contact the prosecution service to address that."

Mr Pickup said all the alleged breaches were shown on a map produced using the GPS tracking system and none of them were in Blackburn.

Having heard Mr Pickup's representations, Pam Ward, prosecuting, bowed to his local knowledge and withdrew the breach.

Mr Pickup's client, who had been remanded in custody overnight, was released immediately.

The Lancashire Telegraph contacted two Darwen-based councillors to enquire as to their thoughts on the real location of Lower Darwen.

Cllr Denise Gee, conservative for Blackburn South and Lower Darwen, said: "“If you ask a true Lower Darwen resident they’d say they were from Darwen and always have been.

"But you see, as the years go by, different people move in and things change, but Lower Darwen belongs to Darwen, as it states… it’s Lower Darwen.

"However, like I say, times change. A lot of my residents in Lower Darwen see themselves as 'Darreners'.

"Many of those residents have family members buried in Darwen because that’s where they believe they’re from. So, there is that tie.

"It’s strange. Time moves on, roads change, new estates come, people move in, so it does get diluted.

"But we always try to keep the village hall, the community centre where we did the Christmas lights because we saw it as Lower Darwen - the village - that belongs to Darwen.

"For all the years that I’ve represented that area, that’s what people say to me."

Cllr Roy Davies represents the Sudell ward and said that he was certain that Lower Darwen belongs to Darwen, not Blackburn.

"I can tell you my point of view straight away. Lower Darwen has got a BB3 code and the MP for it is Jake Berry.

"So as far as I'm concerned, it's very clearly in Darwen. Plus the fact it's got 'Darwen' in its name."