Tithebarn battle bill costs Lancashire councils £500k (From Preston and Leyland Citizen)
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Tithebarn battle bill costs Lancashire councils £500k
9:31am Tuesday 23rd November 2010 in News
HIGH STAKES: An artist’s impression of the Tithebarn development
MINISTERS have this morning confirmed the controversial revamp of Preston city centre is to get the go-ahead.
It follows a public inquiry into the Tithebarn scheme in May.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has announced that the project, which includes a flagship John Lewis store, has been awarded planning permission.
Blackburn with Darwen Council has opposed the expansion, fearing it will take trade out of Blackburn town centre.
And the Lancashire Telegraph can exclusively reveal almost £500,000 was spent by councils on lawyers’ fees alone in the bitter battle over Preston’s expansion plans.
The total bill for Blackburn with Darwen Council’s fight against the £700million scheme came to £365,498 — including legal costs of almost £150,000.
Lancashire County Council, Preston, and Blackpool also spent six-figure sums.
But Graham Burgess, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s chief executive, said it was money well spent as the Tithebarn would cost Blackburn’s retail turnover £37million and take 570 retail jobs out the town.
At the public inquiry Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool opposed the plans, claiming they were too large and would damage trade in their town centres.
On the other side was Preston City Council, supported by Lancashire County Council.
All of the authorities employed their own barristers to fight their corner.
Although the 52,000 sq ft expansion has been approved, funding for the scheme is still far from certain.
Kate Hollern, who has taken over as leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council since the inquiry, said: “I have always been on the record as saying that it’s an absolute waste of money.
"We would be much better focusing on what is happening in Blackburn.
“We have all spent hundreds of thousands of pounds opposing each other.”
But her predecessor, Tory Michael Lee, said they had tried to negotiate, adding: “I didn’t want to spend that money, but we were left with little other option. It was the right thing to do.”
Mr Burgess said: “Yes, the cost was high but so are the stakes.
"Had we not defended Blackburn businesses and jobs, we would have been criticised.”
The figures released under the Freedom of Information Act also show Lancashire County Council spent £239,900 on consultants’ reports and £87,000 on legal fees.
Blackpool Borouugh Council’s fight alongside Blackburn with Darwen cost £388,299, including £155,006 paid to lawyers.
Preston Council would only provide figures for the last 12 months, revealing a legal bill of £81,200 and total costs of £388,299.
Comments(4)
burner
says...
10:11am Tue 23 Nov 10
time.team
says...
11:18am Tue 23 Nov 10
But Graham Burgess, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s chief executive, said it was money well spent as the Tithebarn would cost Blackburn’s retail turnover £37million and take 570 retail jobs out the town.”
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Perhaps it would be better if nobody anywhere spent any money at all trying to improve their own community for fear of showing up what others seem incapable of providing themselves. But who actually is being paid good money to represent the people of Blackburn with Darwen that made these decisions against Preston‘s Tithebarn project?
Unsurprisingly the ones who seem to be afraid that others are doing a better job than what they appear to be doing!
M.DANNY
says...
10:07am Wed 24 Nov 10
Preston is now a major threats to our Blackburn town centre economy,but to compete we need to attract more private retail,hotel and leisure investments just like the Mall Shopping Centre.And finally drop the word DARWEN ,Darwen is part of Greater Blackburn just like,LOWER DARWEN,BROWNHILL,FEN
ISCOWLES etc etc.Just call it the the town BLACKBURN THEN WE MIGHT BE AWARDED CITY STATUS because of our CATHEDRAL.
wing commander bomber harris says...
10:01am Tue 23 Nov 10