Leader shares his New Year 2025 message

Councillor Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, shares his New Year 2025 message: 

As we welcome 2025, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the past year and share our vision for the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for our borough.

Despite the challenges we’ve faced, 2024 has been a year of progress, growth, and community spirit. I am immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished.

Celebrating 2024

This past year, we’ve seen incredible community engagement, from honouring our amazing volunteers at the annual Community Volunteer Awards to celebrating the achievements of our children in care and care leavers. These moments remind us of the strength and compassion that define Blackburn with Darwen.

Our ambitious growth plans have continued apace, all part of our £1billion vision for the future, to make Blackburn with Darwen one of the most important economic centres in the North.

In January we adopted a new Local Plan, which identifies sites for new homes and business developments up to 2037. In the summer we shared plans for £30million investment to help improve transport links and tackle congestion at Junction 5 of the M65, and in September our ambitious plans for a Skills and Cyber Campus of national significance in Blackburn were passed.

Darwen continues to benefit from more investment than we’ve ever seen before through the £20m Long-Term Plan for Towns scheme and the Darwen Town Deal, which is helping to attract more than £100m of associated new funding. This year, it’s helped support Perspex in bringing forward an impressive £40m expansion of its site in Chapels, safeguarding local jobs.

Blackburn has continued to shine with cultural events like the National Festival of Making, which attracted over 40,000 visitors in July. This established event is now one of the main events in our borough’s calendar that really shows what a hotbed of creativity Blackburn with Darwen is. How exciting that the 2024 Turner Prize winning artwork was commissioned in Blackburn and featured work by local textiles artist Rachael Mills! And in June we celebrated the 150^th anniversary of Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, with the recently renovated Hart Gallery being unveiled to mark this major milestone.

And in October we secured Arts Council England funding to launch Blackburn Gigs, a pilot programme of 120 live performances taking place across bars, restaurants and town centre venues until March 2025. Having a strong live music offer is key to benefitting local venues and providing a platform for local grassroots talent to shine. With a diverse mix of acts, performing across a range of genres, there’s certainly something for everyone to enjoy.

One of our key campaigns in 2024 focused on helping residents access financial support. Our Pension Credit campaign is working to identify those residents who are missing out on vital income. This initiative is about ensuring that everyone in our community can access the help they are entitled to during these challenging times.

And in the summer, we launched a long-term piece of work aimed at helping people without digital devices, internet connections or digital skills to get online. This work will step up a pace in 2025 through our work with local partners, who can help us reach people across different communities.

2024 also saw the successful launch of the Regional Fostering Hub, based here in Blackburn with Darwen. This hub is designed to support and recruit foster carers across the region, ensuring that more children in need can find stable, loving homes.

 

Advocating for Better Services

Transport is a vital lifeline for our borough, and I have been lobbying Northern to demand better and more reliable train services. At present, the level of service is simply not good enough. Having met with Northern’s Chief Operating officer in November, I was encouraged by their recognition of the seriousness of these issues and their agreement to work closely with us and other key partners to make improvements. Be assured, I am committed to keeping up the pressure and momentum to secure the improvements our residents and businesses deserve.

 

Looking Ahead to 2025

Economic development remains a priority, and as 2024 turns to 2025, we look forward to making progress on even more exciting projects with further phases of the works to renovate King George’s Hall due to commence, projects being advanced to redevelop the former St John’s Church in Blackburn as a modern business centre, and to expand the brilliant Making Rooms to support our Tech Innovation Quarter close to the planned Skills and Cyber Campus.

Growth brings prosperity, and prosperity brings opportunities — linking closely to our corporate mission to ensure no one is left behind.

Of course, another platform for accelerated growth in our area and across Lancashire will be brought about by devolution and the Lancashire Combined County Authority.

Our Devolution deal for Lancashire and the creation of a Combined County Authority (CCA) for the administrative area covered by the three upper tier councils, Blackburn with Darwen Council, Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council, will still be going ahead in early 2025. This will help us with our economic growth ambitions, improve services and create jobs.

The government has indicated that it will be introducing ‘strategic authorities’ for all areas of England and the Lancashire CCA will be one of these. Alongside this, there is an expectation that areas will move to having directly elected mayors for the combined authorities, such as they have in Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region. This is something we were already considering with our partners once the Lancashire CCA is established.

There are no specific details on what LGR could mean for us yet, and it will be a detailed process, but we know that Government has indicated a move away from two tier authorities (such as in most of Lancashire with the County Council and District Councils) and smaller unitaries, to larger unitary councils.

Although we don’t yet know what this might mean for BwD as a unitary Council, the Government has committed to improving public services and values the role that local government plays in this.  

As discussions around local government re-organisation continue, we remain focused on ensuring that any changes will bring investment and enhance service delivery to benefit all residents and businesses.

 

Supporting you

I also want to remind everyone that help is available during these tricky times. Whether it’s support for families, businesses, or individuals, our Council is here for you.

As we embrace the possibilities of a new year, I want to thank you all for your contributions to making Blackburn with Darwen a vibrant and welcoming place to live, work, and visit.

Wishing you and your loved ones a prosperous, healthy and fulfilling 2025.

And, as 2025 is the 150th anniversary of the founding of Blackburn Rovers, what better way could there be of celebrating than the team arriving at the promised land of the Premier League by achieving promotion in May! Results could have been better over Christmas, but as a Rovers fan I live in hope that we’ll see more wins in 2025.

 

Warm regards,

Councillor Phil Riley

Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council