A FAIR owner whose attractions have visited Darwen for a century claims townsfolk are being deprived of major rides by Blackburn Council.

Arthur Silcock, whose father before him set up Silcock's travelling fair, opened for business again in Darwen last night.

But he claims the small car park site his fair has been allocated in Railway Road means he has to leave many major rides behind.

Mr Silcock said: "It is great to be back in Darwen because we have been coming here for 100 years. But we are on a very small site which is not big enough to accommodate all our rides, and the people of Darwen deserve better."

He had wanted the larger site which his fair once used between Robin Bank and Duckworth Street and which would have allowed him to bring six major rides to town. But he said Blackburn Council refused to allow him the site, which has recently been cleared of a cocktail of toxins, even though he had offered to surface it as a permanent car park. Former mayor of Darwen Tom Hardman, who has long campaigned for a permanent fair site, said: "What the council don't seem to realise is that he is employing people and he needs to plan ahead what rides to bring."

A council spokesman said: "Robin Bank is the new site for the Darwen Access Point and we were not sure whether construction would have begun by the time of the fair.

"Obviously we did not want to interfere with what is an important construction programme."

He added that limited suitable council land was available for the fair in Darwen town centre.

The fair opens at 5.30pm and runs daily to 9.30pm until March 9. The opening hours for Saturday are 1.30pm to 9.30pm, and Sunday, 2pm to 7pm.

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