RENT reductions are being offered to breathe new life in Darwen's three-day market.

The full details of the scheme have not yet been revealed, but Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council officers said they hope it will entice traders into the market.

And in the long term they hope new businesses can help restore the market as a focal point for shoppers and offer a variety of products.

The market has struggled in recent years. In 1998, a package of measures aimed at reversing the decline were implemented by councillors.

They produced a report which highlighted the difficulties in the Darwen Market Arcade where half the stalls were empty.

The councillors introduced a customer service charter in July 1998 to try to improve the image of markets in Blackburn with Darwen.

But in October 2000 three stallholders on the three-day market said their profits were still falling -- one by almost 50 per cent.

All three said traders they were 'hanging on' to their livelihoods rather than prospering.

And last year a trader of 23 years, Alan Wilkinson, closed his stall and claimed Darwen Market was dying.

But Coun Ashley Whalley, executive member for regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said: "There are a number of vacant stalls on the three-day market that we hope to fill by this initiative, thereby adding to the vibrancy of Darwen markets as a whole."

He added that they hoped to bring in new traders by the scheme, but welcomed existing stallholders using it as an opportunity to expand their businesses. Market managers at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council are finalising the details, which they hope to release in the next few days.