APPROVAL for the final piece of a flagship multi-million pound development of an eyesore site has been welcomed as a moment of 'joyousness'.

And a senior Tory councillor said away fans coming to watch Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park will no longer 'cringe' as they pass the derelict Lower Darwen Paper Mill site.

The comments came as Blackburn with Darwen Council planning committee approved the fourth employment unit on Millbank Business Park.

It is the last part of the mixed-use regeneration of land between Greenbank Terrace and Milking Lane, formerly occupied by the Lower Darwen Paper Mill, to come before councillors.

Work has already started on the commercial part of the scheme with Cheshire-based Elan Homes securing full planning permission to build 76 properties on the residential element.

The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership awarded a £1.4million grant towards the new link road between Milking Lane and Greenbank Terrace crucial to the scheme,

The planning application given permission was from Barnfield Blackburn Ltd, the joint venture company between Barnfield Developments and Blackburn with Darwen Council created to develop the site just off M65 junction 4 which had been vacant and an eyesore for several years.

Blackburn with Darwen Council regeneration boss Cllr Phil Riley said: "This has been put together in joyousness.

"This has been an eyesore for a very, very long time.

"We need to thanks Rossendale and Darwen MP Jake Berry for securing the money for the link road.

"This good scheme is going to transform the area."

Blackburn South and Lower Darwen Conservative Cllr Jacquie Slater said: "I used to cringe every time I went past the site on a key gateway into Blackburn.

"Away fans going to Rovers must have cringed as well. It was awful.

"Now we and they won't have to cringe."

Committee chairman Cllr Dave Smith said: "This is a good scheme on a key gateway into the town. This is the last piece of the jigsaw on the site."

The commercial unit approved unanimously at Thursday night's meeting will be the largest of four on the site, comprising 35,000 square feet of internal floor space.