COUNCILLORS have been told to block the multi-million-pound redevelopment of Blackburn's Lord Square - until developers agree to build a new clock tower on a nearby street.

Planners at Blackburn with Darwen Council have recommended a condition be attached to any approval of The Mall's plan for Blackburn shopping centre, banning the new development unless a new clock is created.

Today planners were accused of toying with the very future of Blackburn town centre.

Tory councillor Paul McGurty said: "This is turning into a game of brinkmanship between the council and The Mall and shoppers and traders will end up being the losers.

"I don't know anyone who likes the current clock tower. I don't even think we need a clock tower in Blackburn anymore.

"We can't afford for the shopping centre to remain as it is."

The plans for the shopping centre include demolishing the existing clock tower - which has a lift shaft and staircase inside it to link the multi-storey car park to King William Street - and creating a more attractive access to and from the car park.

The much-maligned clock tower was built in the 1960s when the shopping centre replaced the old market hall in King William Street.

It was meant to replace the market's clock tower, but the original clock's demolition has since been decried as one of the greatest travesties in the town's history - its replacement has been called "ugly".

According to a report compiled ahead of Thursday's planning and highways meeting, The Mall had originally planned to include an LED - or digital - clock on top of the new glass tower.

Planners said this was unacceptable, so The Mall removed it from its final plans - a move the planners also found unacceptable.

Their report states: "The design of the replacement tower has been the subject of concern expressed by the council and despite the receipt of amended details which omit the proposed LED clock, it is considered the final results falls short of the council's aspiration.

"As such it is considered prudent that should planning consent be grant it be conditional that the applicant submit a revised proposal for the replacement clock tower."

Blackburn Civic Society chairman Richard Prest said the group had expressed concern about the lack of a clock tower, but added: "Everyone has a mobile phone these days, so does the town centre need one?

"Overall, the new development should make a massive improvement to Blackburn."

A spokesman for London-based The Mall said it was in talks with the council over the tower, but did not have any plans for a new clock, although it would not rule the possibility of one out.

The Mall's plans to replace Lord Square with a four and five storey extension to the shopping centre won praise from the council when they were unveiled last year.

The Mall planned to create shops facing out on to Church Street, while the spokesman added the alterations at King William Street were designed to improve the look of the whole shopping centre.

Jeff Stone, a hairdresser from Fleming Square, Blackburn, said: "This council gets obsessed by minor details and the risk is that the bigger picture is lost."

But Phil Ainsworth, who runs a jewellers in Darwen Street, said the council had already successfully forced improvements to the design.

He said: "Originally, the plans didn't include an entrance on to Darwen Street, which would have been bad news for us, but the council have pressed for the designs to be changed and they have been.

"We're very happy with the plans now. The council has suggested much better designs."

Other conditions which will need to be adhered to if the project is to go ahead include the provision of 'realtime' bus and train information inside the shopping centre, new 'pay on foot' machines for the car park, resurfacing of the existing car park and the use of a local artist for a public art scheme on the side facing Church Street.

The company must also give samples of the materials to be used in construction to ensure it will not use anything in its 'rubine red' corporate colours.

In its plans, it wants to paint window frames and the surrounds to entrances in the colour.

But the council report states: "We will resist the use of rubine red through our right to control the type of materials used for development."