THE new £1.3million public space on the site of the Darwen’s former three-day market will be an expensive ‘white elephant’, a senior Tory councillor has warned.

Cllr John Slater said the square will become ‘a magnet for dossers, skateboarders and anti-social behaviour’.

The leader of the Blackburn with Darwen Council Conservative group said: “The people of Darwen have been conned.

“The £400,000 the borough council has already spent could have paid for the refurbishment of the old three-day market building and made it spot on. That is what the people of Darwen wanted.

“Instead we have an expensive public open space which will become a white elephant.

“There are not enough events to use it properly and it will be a magnet for dossers, skateboards and anti-social behaviour.

“The people of Darwen have once again been short-changed by Blackburn Labour who said there was not enough money to revamp the old market hall.”

Darwen East Liberal Democrat Cllr Roy Davies said: “I would have preferred to see craft shops on the space. Darwen needs more retail.”

Cllr Phil Riley, Blackburn with Darwen Council regeneration boss, said: “We consulted extensively on what the people of Darwen wanted and that is what we are delivering.

“The old market hall was an unattractive piece of brutalist architecture that was not worth the cost of revamping.

“If Cllr Slater wants to relive yesterday’s stories that’s up to him but we will get on with delivering the new Darwen centre.

“The square has already hosted the most successful Darwen Live ever and in May thousands attended the Crafty Vintage fair which came because of the new space.We are hoping to use the undercroft of Railway Road for shops and cafe and it is up to the people to Darwen to make the new square the welcoming and vibrant space we want.”