REGENERATION officials have submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £1million that is expected to breathe new life into Padiham town centre.

The plans would see improvements made to shop fronts and historical buildings as well as investments into the arts.

The Lottery Fund is part of a Townscape Heritage Initiative, similar to the ones that brought major improvements to Burnley and Darwen’s most historic buildings and shop fronts with much success.

The news comes as Padiham’s town centre has been noted to be thriving in a time of national high street decline. Padiham town councillor, Bob Clark said: “If secured, the money would bring the latest in a series of developments in Padiham that have been made under the supervision of town centre manager, Tony Fitzgerald.

“It is, of course, only my opinion but in my eyes Padiham is on the up.

“We’ve seen a number of improvements made to shop fronts, the leisure centre is doing amazingly well, the Padiham Greenway is wonderful and the town hall is being used much more widely than it ever was before with dance classes and other activities being hosted there.

“We have suffered with the legacy of our past but recently, more people are coming to shop in Padiham, perhaps as a result of the new Tesco and other retail outlets.

“I spend a lot of time here and I really do think that it’s an area that is fighting back.

“£1million is a lot of money and would help to build on all the successes we’ve had recently and make it even better.”