Published Thursday 7 November 2024 at 16:50
Blackburn with Darwen Council could take full ownership of a major town centre development site if new proposals are agreed.
The Council’s Executive Board is being asked to agree the £1.6m purchase of Maple Grove Developments’ investment in the joint venture which owns the former Thwaites Brewery site.
The move would see the Council take full ownership and control of the joint venture and therefore the site, paving the way for a new masterplan to be prepared for that whole area – where plans for a new Education and Cyber Skills Campus have recently been agreed.
Simon Jones, Growth Programme Director at the Council, said:
Partnership working is at the very heart of all we do here in Blackburn with Darwen.
Joint ventures are a really good way of being able to bring forward major developments, benefiting our towns and the whole borough.
The former Thwaites Brewery site was originally acquired through Maple Grove Blackburn in 2021 and was ear-marked as a site for Morrisons to relocate too.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, those plans were withdrawn by the supermarket chain and we’re now looking at next steps for the site – one of our ‘big six’ of growth ambitions.
By making this move to acquire the joint venture, we’ll have full control of the site’s future, which is incredibly important.
We want to now update our masterplan for the area, anchored by our new Education and Skills Campus, and want to explore new opportunities including commercial, leisure and town centre uses.
This is a huge opportunity for the future of Blackburn town centre and one we want to be very much in the driving seat for.
A paper outlining the full proposals for acquiring the joint venture is set to be presented to the Council’s Executive Board – made up of political leaders – on Thursday, November 14.
It sets out how the remaining shares and debt in the joint venture will be purchased by the Council for just over £1.6m.
It also seeks to appoint award-winning architects BDP to update the masterplan with consultation planned for the new year.
Andrew Dewhurst, Director of Maple Grove Developments said:
We have a really good partnership in place with Blackburn with Darwen Council, which we look forward to developing further in the years ahead.
We recognise, however, that this is the right time for the Council to take full control of this major development site and move forward with their plans for its future.
We have other opportunities that we are currently working on with the council as one of their trusted partners on the growth and development framework.
You can find out more about significant investment right across the borough at: www.discoverbwd.com