BRITISH Telecom has been given permission to fit its phone kiosk on the junction of Market Street and Croft Street in Darwen's conservation area with a free cash machine.

Blackburn with Darwen Council planners have approved the upgrade.

It will be the 18th such combined phone box and ATM in Lancashire.

The kiosk will have payphone on one side and a cash machine on the other.

A report by planning officer Christian Barton recommended approval with three conditions.

It said: "The application site is a piece of public highway land located within Darwen Town Centre and the Darwen Town Centre Conservation Area.

"Commercial buildings and open public highway land surround the site to all sides.

"The land immediately surrounding the site serves as a footway and a public telephone kiosk is currently in place.

"This application involves the installation of a replacement public telephone kiosk with an integrated Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

"The kiosk would have a footprint of circa 1.8m square meters and a domed roof up to 2.5m in height. "Grey steel panels would be used to construct the kiosk with blue graphics displayed to all four elevations.

"The site is positioned within an area that has a highly varied street scene.

"The replacement kiosk would be similar in terms of height and massing to the existing kiosk.

"The Blackburn with Darwen conservation officer has raised no objections on heritage grounds and I concur with thd findings.

"The proposed kiosk would replace one of the same footprint. Therefore, no additional obstructions for pedestrians would arise."

News of the planning application for the upgrade and fitting of an ATM at the Darwen kiosk was welcomed by local Darwen East ward Liberal Democrat Cllr Paul Browne and his Darwen West Labour counterpart Cllr Dave Smith.

They said it would help counter a shortage of free-to-use cash machines in the town.

A BT spokesperson said: “There are already 528 of these kiosks across the UK providing a valuable service to communities.”