BUSINESSMEN have blasted council bosses after claiming a once-thriving area of Blackburn town centre is being left to rot.

Shops in the historic Aspden buildings, in Preston New Road, are mostly empty, boarded up or covered in fly-posters.

The original plan was to demolish the block and extend Barbara Castle Way as part of a Blackburn inner relief road. But the traders claim funds have never been made available, leaving a question mark over the future of the building.

Rodney Ison, owner of the Richard Haworth art restoration business, is desperate to move out, He said: "They are continually broken into by vagrants and one unit was set on fire. The whole area has just descended into a slum. I should have got out a long time ago. Originally, I was told I would be out by 1994, but this could go on for another 10 years."

Mr Ison is now moving out of Blackburn all together. He is in dispute with Lancashire County Council over a blight order, which requires the council to purchase his property and others in the area.

Surveyor Nigel Woolley, who is acting on Mr Ison's behalf, accused the county council of unnecessary delays over processing these blight orders.

"The county council has tried to absolve its responsibility in the hope that by April 1 it will be out of the equation as Blackburn with Darwen Council will take over highways," he said. "The area is suffering from a general malaise which is having a knock-on effect, even going down as far as King William Street. My client is ready to pack up because he has had enough, but he is stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea."

Other businesses in the area are equally unhappy. John Kenyon, a partner in estate agents Mortimer, Gorse and Ross, in nearby King William Street, said: "Preston New Road is the main road into the town from the motorway and the first thing that people see when they approach the town centre are some clapped-out buildings. It's a disgrace."

But a Lancashire County Council spokesman denied they had washed their hands of the problem. "We are negotiating with the people concerned and hope to progress the claims soon," he said.

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader, Malcolm Doherty, said: "Some of the buildings are in the ownership of the county council and they will transfer to us on April 1.

"We cannot make decisions about them until we are responsible for them, but when we are, we will make every effort to resolve the situation as soon as possible."

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