BLACKBURN shopping centre has slipped behind Burnley for the first time in a High Street survey to find the country's best.

Now a councillor says the £6million regeneration scheme planned for the town is vital if Blackburn is to gain an advantage on its local soccer-and-shopping rival.

A national league table of retail centres showed Burnley has leapfrogged over Blackburn to clinch 149th place -- beating it by two places.

But the East Lancashire towns are still way behind the rest of the North West, with Blackpool, Preston, Bury, Bolton and Manchester all in the top 100.

The league tables have been produced by Experian, a global information company, following a physical survey of more than 1,100 separate shopping locations.

Towns are given a 'vitality score' based on factors such as retail floorspace, number of multiple outlets and empty shops. London's West End was top with a score of 470.

Burnley recorded an 18 per cent improvement to score 145 points, while Blackburn fell five per cent to 144 points

Blackburn Councillor Ashley Whalley, executive member for regeneration said the survey highlighted the need for the redevelopment of Blackburn which will see Church Street closed to traffic, linking that part of the town to the shopping centre.

He said: "This is exactly why we are currently undertaking a town centre regeneration programme.

"Those cynics who said there was no need for it ought to read this league table very carefully.

"When the programme is finished in 18 months time, we would hope to see Blackburn rocket up the table to where the town belongs.

"In the mid 1970s, Blackburn used to be in around 60th place in the league table. That is what we would like to achieve again."

Arnold Wilcock-Wood, Blackburn's town centre manager, was unhappy at the findings.

He said: "I can't believe we are lower in the table than Burnley. If you look at both towns, I am sure that Blackburn is a better shopping experience than Burnley.

"Burnley is a small town with a small shopping offering that doesn't compare to Blackburn."

Burnley's town centre manager Lisa Durkin was delighted with the announcement.

She said: "This is excellent news for Burnley. We have had £20million of investment in retail and leisure and everything we are doing shows that the town is improving in the face of competition from Manchester, the Trafford Centre and Blackburn.

"We attracted 30 new businesses to the town centre last year, ten of them multiple site retailers, and a number of new stores will be coming to the town this year."