BLACKBURN’S new bus station is one of three major projects involving the council as part of the regeneration of the town centre.

The others, the Cathedral Quarter and the sports and leisure centre, have been on or ahead of schedule.

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The leisure centre, replacing the 29-year-old Waves Water Fun Centre, was a joint project between Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Blackburn College.

The leisure centre, with main contractor Eric Wright Construction working on the project, opened in March, six months head of schedule. It has a six-lane, 25m swimming pool, two water slides, a children’s water fun zone, a dance and aerobics room, a spinning studio, a gym and two sports halls.

The Cathedral Quarter is being constructed in two parts, and both are on track for a December completion.

Eric Wright Construction is responsible for the Premier Inn hotel, office block and landscaped gardens and squares around Blackburn Cathedral.

Clergy Court, the first cathedral accommodation complex with priests’ accommodation, refectory and cloister garden for 600 years, is also on track, with the buildings now being clad with special masonry and slates by contractors John Turner Construction.

Pennine Reach — which includes a new Furthergate link road, major improvements around Ewood, and new ticketing and information technology — is also on schedule for April 2016 completion.

Until yesterday’s announcement, the main problem had been delays in gaining the necessary permissions for Accrington’s £6.4 million bus station before construction started in February. The Ainsworth Street bus station on the old market site is the centrepiece of the Pennine Reach scheme to improve public-transport links.