Published Thursday 27 March 2025 at 17:42
The main path through Darwen’s Sunnyhurst Woods is set to benefit from hundreds of thousands of pounds of new investment as part of the £100m Darwen Town Deal.
Residents said that improving the town’s popular parks, the woods and paths up to the iconic Jubilee Tower should all be priorities for the Government funding.
And over the next year, there’ll be major upgrades to six key routes with additional council investment pledged too.
All part of a scheme called ‘Destination Darwen’, the first to benefit will be Sunnyhurst Woods with the main path from the entrance at Falcon Avenue right up to Earnsdale Reservoir set to be improved.
This will include resurfacing the 2km stretch to make it an accessible route as well as work to strengthen the river banks, better drainage and more.
Officers from Blackburn with Darwen Council have been working closely with the dedicated volunteers from the Friends of Sunnyhurst Woods on the scheme with work now set to start imminently.
Councillor Phil Riley, Chair of the Darwen Town Deal Board and Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said:
This is a fantastic project that the Town Deal Board and the Council is proud to be delivering with the support of the Friends of Sunnyhurst Woods.
The woods is a hugely popular spot with our residents and many visitors, and this new investment will help bring significant improvements to the main path that leads right up to Earnsdale Reservoir – a beautiful stretch.
This is just the beginning too. We have plans to improve six key routes across our parks and open spaces, including the paths up to the Jubilee Tower, which the Town Deal helped to restore.
We’ll also be working with the different friends’ groups at our parks to develop wider action plans for improvements, improvements that our residents have told us are important and should be a priority.
In total, and with council support, we’re pleased to be pledging more than £3m of funding as part of the Destination Darwen scheme – a fantastic amount of new investment for these much-loved spaces.
The work starting at Sunnyhurst Woods – which first opened as a public park in 1903 – will coincide with the demolition of Darwen Youth Centre, which is set to double in size.
And a new planning application has just been submitted for Darwen Market Hall with plans also being developed for major investment for Darwen Library and Library Theatre too.
Together, this is more than £25m of new investment for the town centre.
As part of Destination Darwen, links between the town, parks and up on to the rolling West Pennine Moors have already been improved, including new pedestrian crossings to help make it easier to get around and to encourage people to explore.
All the car parks in the town centre have also been upgraded as part of the Town Deal.
Speaking about the work at Sunnyhurst Woods, Dougie Wright, chair of the friends group, said:
The investment that is coming into Sunnyhurst Wood is absolutely fantastic.
The work that will be carried out will improve the wood for both the local and wider communities and ensure the fantastic green space that the wood represents is for the future.
Improvements to the main path will allow better access to Earnsdale Reservoir where at the moment it is extremely difficult to navigate especially for disabled and pram users.
Access to other parts of the wood will also be improved such as to the Band Stand and Ellis Gibson Pond.
A number of trees will be felled during the planned works which will be a benefit to the woods, it will allow for wider paths in places, ensure that tree roots don’t damage the paths in the future and thin the tree canopy that has become too thick over the years.
The Friends of Sunnyhurst Wood are looking forward to these exciting times.
To allow for the upgrades in Sunnyhurst Woods to be undertaken safely, including the important tree works, temporary closures will be needed at different points during the coming weeks and months. These will be well signed with diversions in place.
The Olde England Kiosk – the historic, Grade II listed wedding venue based there – will be open as usual throughout the works.
The Darwen Town Deal alongside additional funding committed by the Council and private investors will help unlock around £100m of new investment for Darwen.
In addition to this, the Government has also just confirmed a further £20m for Darwen over the next decade from the new Plan for Neighbourhoods.
You can also read our feature about Darwen – the town that has it all – in the latest edition of the Council’s Shuttle Extra magazine out now!
You can view a digital version by clicking here.