The leader of the council has set out his £1 billion vision for the future of Blackburn with Darwen.

Speaking at his first business event since taking up his new role, Councillor Phil Riley said there is ‘real momentum’ for the area as a place to live, invest and do business.

Attended by members of the Forum for the Built Environment (FBE), Cllr Riley showcased the borough’s ambitious strategic frameworks for the next decade, with the opportunity to support 100,000 jobs in the area and establish Blackburn with Darwen as one of the most important economic centres in the North.

Following the Government’s emphasis on growth in the recent budget announcements, he believes the borough is incredibly well placed to achieve Local Investment Zone status.

Cllr Riley said: “We have a really strong story to tell here in Blackburn with Darwen around our growth agenda and I was really proud to front it at this event as the new leader.

“We’re progressing new strategic frameworks which will help unlock £1billion of new economic activity over the next decade – creating a wealth of opportunity for our residents and businesses.

“We’ve worked incredibly hard to put the right plans in place to support and bolster the future of the borough in a bid to drive real, positive change and now we’re now at an exciting stage with these plans starting to come to fruition.

“We are ambitious and are working towards Blackburn with Darwen being one of the most important economic centres in the region.”

And, given the government’s emphasis on growth in last week’s mini-budget, we hope our plans and frameworks make us a prime candidate to secure the Government’s new Local Investment Zone status.

The council’s strategic director for place, Martin Kelly presented plans for a Blackburn Growth Axis, which closely links to the opportunities created as part of the Government’s new National Cyber Force which will be based at Samlesbury.

The Growth Axis includes the £250 million Blackburn Town Centre Masterplan – the largest town centre development of its kind in the region on the 15-acre site in the town centre that includes the former Thwaites Brewery site.

Wayne Wild – chair of Darwen Town Deal – also gave a compelling overview of the £100m of investment planned there, leveraged through the £25m secured from the government.

It will see £26m invested in the town centre, a new sports village with Olympic facilities, 600 jobs created and safeguarded, investment in world-class engineering and more.

He said: “As a local lad, it really is impressive when you see first-hand what’s planned for the borough and the benefits residents and businesses could reap.

“I’m really proud to be helping lead the Darwen Town Deal with some incredible opportunities coming forward.

“The business cases have now been agreed by Government and I’m looking forward to driving forward the proposals as we move to the next stage.”

The Council has applied to the Government for £40m of Levelling Up funding that will help accelerate its planned investment schemes.

A new Local Plan – a blueprint for the future of the borough – has also been submitted to Government for review.