Car parks across Darwen town centre to be upgraded as part of £120m investment

Car parks right across Darwen town centre are set to be upgraded as part of the £120m Darwen Town Deal.

Works are set to start imminently on the programme of 15 different car parks with plans to include everything from new surfacing to new road markings, the clearance of vegetation and more.

It’s part of more than £26m of new funding for the town centre, with the historic Market Hall, Darwen Library and the Library Theatre all set to benefit.

Wayne Wild, Chair of the Darwen Town Deal, said:

Over the next year, we’re going to see a great deal of progress on the investment for our town centre.

This will include significant works to the Market Hall, to Darwen Library and Darwen Library Theatre and, of course, Darwen Youth Centre too, which is set to double in size thanks to funding secured from the Youth Investment Fund.

This is all brilliant news for the town with huge amounts of investment pledged – more than we’ve ever seen before.

Councillor Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said:

There’s a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes on the impressive plans for Darwen.

These improvements to the car parks are part of early works to help prepare for what’s to come.

It’ll help us make better use of the existing spaces whilst those works are underway – making it easier for people to continue to support the town and the brilliant selection of businesses here, including many independents.

Knott Street Car Park – now part of the recently unveiled Gary Aspden Way – closed earlier in the year to allow for survey works to be completed on the youth centre.

This has included detailed ground investigations, which required the area to be closed for safety reasons and the car parks at the railway station and in Atlas Road were instead made free to use.

As a result of those tests, it’s now been deemed that the existing youth centre will need to be completely demolished despite best efforts to save parts of it.

Detailed plans for the Market Hall, Darwen Library and Darwen Library Theatre are set to be submitted for planning permission later in the year.

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