HEY, what about Darwen?

So blasts Liberal Democrat leader and proud Darrener Coun Paul Browne as a £40million plan to revamp Blackburn is unveiled by the council.

Blackburn with Darwen Council, that is.

Coun Browne may be shooting from the lip somewhat when he claims Darwen gets second-best treatment from the council. For, as regeneration committee chairman Coun Andy Kay points out, in the pipeline is a development that would have a direct impact on Darwen town centre.

But he is right to stand up for his patch and stick up for Darwen.

For, true or not, many Darwen folk do feel their town has suffered ever since it was drawn in to Blackburn in the 1974 local government shake-up.

And though the council, embarking on unitary status, has responded with the "with Darwen" addition to its title, it needs to remember that deeds count more than words.

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