A MASTER plan on how a run-down area of Church will be regenerated will be completed in December.

Hyndburn First - Hyndburn Council's regeneration arm - hopes to use the proposals for the Church canal gateway to attract developers willing to invest in the site and transform it.

The area to be prioritised is the one adjacent to Commercial Street, Blackburn Road and the canalside, which falls within the conservation area.

It includes houses in Walmsley Close, which Hyndburn Homes has agreed to transfer to Hyndburn First for demolition, the grade II listed Hargreaves Warehouse and the Commercial Hotel, which are both in a poor state of repair.

Nick Moule, from Hyndburn First, told a meeting of Church and Milnshaw Area Council that the area had been a blight on local residents' lives for many years. He said: "The Church Canal Gateway is potentially one of the most exciting projects that it is going to happen in Hyndburn.

"We are pulling together a master plan for the whole of that area. That will provide a vision which we can use to engage the property owners and potential development partners to secure regeneration.

"Any redevelopment will be substantially privately funded and we are going to have to work very closely with owners and potential developers.

"It will involve the conversion of the warehouses and the Commercial Hotel and the demolition of some buildings. The scheme is likely to include offices, shops and other uses.

"But this isn't going to happen over night. It is a long haul project, but we will be making significant steps in the new year to move it forward."