TOWN leaders have looked into the future - thanks to a high-tech tool based on a bestselling computer game.

Senior officials from Blackburn with Darwen Council, police and health services, as well as business and the voluntary and community sector, took part in a learning experiment designed to predict environmental, social and economic change in the borough.

The Planit-North West simulator is like a giant business version of the hit game Sim City.

The tool forecasts life in the future, based on the actions of today's decision makers.

Like the computer game, players take charge of vital community resources and their virtual community's success or failure depends on their decisions.

The simulation took place at Eanam Wharf Business Centre in Blackburn and was the latest in a series of demonstrations across the North West to encourage bosses to work together to create sustainable development.