Darweners urged to sign town council petition

The new council would allow people to have a bigger say on by-laws and planning issues through locally elected councillors and also act as a major forum and lobbying organisation.

A town council is one of the key aims of our 'We're Backing Darwen' campaign which we have launched to help revitalise the town.

The For Darwen Party has already collected 2,500 signatures in a petition for a town council.

For the Government to allow the move, 10 per cent of residents must sign a petition backing the town council.

Coun Tony Melia, leader of the For Darwen party, urged people to sign up before the petition is closed in January.

He said: "We've decided to keep the petition open until about mid January when we will be verifying names and addresses and delivering it to the council."

The petition will be sent to the chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Graham Burgess, who has three months to review the proposal before sending it to the Secretary of State for approval.

Coun Melia added: "A new Government white paper encourages more parish councils and power to the people, so if the secretary of state doesn't pass it, it will go against Government policy.

"MP Janet Anderson is backing us all the way.

"It should be plain sailing."

Anyone who is a resident of Darwen can sign the petition which is available in Cameo Cutting Shop in Railway Road, Genesis Plumbing and Electrical Supplies in Duckworth Street, Urban Location in Bridge Street and Buxton's Bakers in Bridge Street.

Our campaign has been launched as we believe that more needs to be done to make Darwen truly shine.

In addition to the town council, We're Backing Darwen will press for improvements to Darwen's road network amid wide-spread anger at the revamped town centre system.

The campaign will also urge civic leaders to give the town more focus for events such as the Christmas lights to try to lend more support to traders.

• You can also sign the petition by clicking the link below.