THE never-ending saga of Blackburn's Church Street is rumbling on.

Today it is revealed that cobbles on the £2.5 pedestrianised street have had to be dug up because puddles were forming.

They had been incorrectly laid and were not on a slope.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is quick to tell us the problem is minor.

Luckily, officers carrying out an inspection spotted the error at an early stage.

The man in charge of regeneration said the problem only started after contractors handed over the street to the council.

Further problems are not envisaged.

But of course, it will be seen as yet another sorry story in the whole affair that is Church Street.

There was an outcry when workers from Portugal were brought to Lancashire to lay down some of the paving.

And the art work so widely publicised by the council has also suffered a series of setbacks.

Ronnie O'Keeffe, president of the Blackburn Chamber of Trade, now wants the council to make sure similar problems do not occur in Darwen Street, where cobbles have also been laid.

And traders in the town, quite rightly, believe the job should have been done properly first time.

Let's hope this is really just a very minor setback.

After all, what's the point in pedestrianising a street if shoppers need to put on their wellies every time they use it?