VETERAN politician Paul Browne is being tipped to become Darwen’s first mayor since 1973.

The Liberal Democrat councillor has been nomin-ated by leader of the For Darwen Party Coun Tony Melia after being elected to the new town council earlier this month The last councillor to hold the title was Colin Talbot in 1973, before the formation of an amalgamated Blackburn Borough Council.

Coun Trevor Maxfield is being put forward as the deputy.

Coun Browne, who runs his own aerial and satellite business, said he was “chuffed and honoured” at the nomination, which is expected to be ratified at the first town council meeting tomorrow night.

The councillor, who also represents the Sudell ward for the borough council, said: “I’m thrilled about it, but it has come slightly out of the blue. I’ve always stood for Darwen and before politics, I’m a Darrener.

“One of my first jobs will be to tell people that this is not the same as a borough council, and we don’t have the same powers, but I will be available to promote Darwen wherever people want me to.”

It is unclear what, if any, mayoral chains will be avail-able for the new Darwen mayor. The original Darwen chains are used by the Blackburn with Darwen mayor.

Coun Melia has said these should be given back to Darwen. But Coun Browne said that would be an unnecessary expense.

He said: “The chains were for the Darwen Borough Council which doens’t exist anymore, and if we got them back, we’d have to pay for Blackburn with Darwen Council to have another set.I want to avoid any unnec-essary cost to the taxpayer, and I think we should look at a compromise.”

He suggested using the chains worn by the deputy mayor of Blackburn with Darwen Council.

Coun Browne has been a councillor since 1973 and was borough mayor in 1993-4. He has been chairman of planning, a member of the Fire Authority, a governor at St James’ Primary School for 37 years and president of Darwen Subscription Bowl-ing Club.

In May 2006, he stood down as Lib Dem leader for Blackburn with Darwen and in January 2008 called for all Darwen councillors to give up their annual allowances to light up Darwen Tower.