HAVING just received the Liberal Democrat "Sudell Focus Election Special" leaflet, I must draw several points to your attention.
In 1994, I was involved with the Darwen Against Demolition Campaign, entailing organising a petition which 7,000 Darreners signed to stop the former Darwen Technical School being knocked down.
The petition was presented to Lancashire County Council buildings sub-committee which agreed to halt the demolition and subsequently the building was re-marketed.
The Darwen Against Demolition team managed to find three potential buyers for the building. However, due to planning laws, none of them were successful.
In 1996, conservation area status was granted and this included "The Old Tech." This means that the building is protected and cannot be demolished without government consent.
In 1998, the building was sold to a local builder, who has now decided to re-market the building due to financial reasons. Finally, since 1994 until now, the Darwen Against Demolition team, including Councillor Derek Brindle, have worked to preserve this magnificent building and will continue to do so.
Yes, it is in a poor condition at present. However, it is secure and is being re-marketed.
It is just a pity that the Liberal Democrats in Darwen seem to want to do more damage than good with the leaflet they are delivering. Perhaps if they had been involved with the campaign from day one, if they had bothered to sign the petition and got their facts right, I would not be writing this now.
After all, we do have the support of the Civic Society (locally and in London), the Victorian Society, Ancient Monuments and Blackburn with Darwen Council (local plan page 72).
MRS EMILY BANKS (team member Darwen Against Demolition Campaign), Darwen.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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