LEADING politicians today demanded the council change its policy to ensure no more children's centres are opened close to hostels for paedophiles and violent offenders.

Leader of the opposition, councillor for North Turton and Tockholes Colin Rigby, said Blackburn with Darwen planning bosses could not "shirk their responsibility to keep children safe" and must provide prospective businesses with full details of the areas they wished to set up in.

Coun Rigby spoke out after the Lancashire Evening Telegraph yesterday revealed that Smiles on Faces Day Care Centre had been allowed to open close to both a bail hostel housing category one child sex offenders and Salvation Army hostel in St Peter's Street, Blackburn.

Probation bosses said they were not consulted over the potential dangers of opening the centre next to Haworth House bail hostel and if either the Council or the centre owner Ann Wainwright had contacted them they would have expressed "serious concerns" about the location.

However Mrs Wainwright said she had "naively" assumed that as the council had provided the details of four potential child care centre sites that all were suitable and at no point had anyone from the council told her the property was overlooked by a hostel containing paedophiles.

Today a council spokesman said they would not comment further on the situation as they believed it was up to each individual to research which site was most appropriate to their business needs.

They added that they were also not planning to change policy to ensure all people who opened a child care facility in the borough were fully aware of what other premises existed in the area and their uses a decision which angered Coun Rigby.

He said: "Council law states that the Council and each individual councillor has a corporate responsibility for all children in the borough.

"I can understand that the regeneration department gave this woman a list of four properties that were available but they have a responsibility and it should be part of policy to make sure advice is given about the surrounding area.

"At the council we have lecture after lecture about our responsibility to children so to shrug it off as not their problem is just not acceptable.

"It is council responsibility to make sure that the proper checks are in place before any nursery or school is allowed to open and I would urge them to make this part of policy immediately."

Councillor Maureen McGarvey, shadow spokesperson for social services, added: "The council and the probation service cannot shove their heads in the sand and pretend that this is acceptable. It isn't.

"Something needs to be done to sort this extremely worrying situation out immediately and ensure checks are in place to make sure it doesn't happen again."