A NEW £3.5million community hub is to be built at Blackburn’s Shadsworth Estate.

Twin Valley Homes (TVH) has announced plans for the new Shadsworth Enterprise Centre, on and area of Ballantrea Road, Ayre Road and Rothesay Road.

It will remove the buildings on the site, including the Health and Wellbeing Centre, and replace them with the new centre.

It will provide space for five retail units on the ground floor, with a multi-purpose space above for sports and recreation, a kitchen for breakfast clubs and cooking allotment foods, IT facilities for job clubs and ICT Training and a one-stop shop for advice on health, wealth and wellbeing.

There will also be 20 new homes, which will be available for rent, and areas for play, recreation and gardening.

Additional funding has been provided by the Homes and Communities Agency and plans are being drawn up to approach local employ-ment bases to work with the community in the Enterprise Centre.

The move comes following a public consultation with local tenants about what facilities they wanted to see in their community.

Wendy Malone, Twin Valley Homes’ head of project management, said: “We have listened to the residents in the area and tried to match their hopes and expectations for the future of their community.

“This development will replace the tired buildings that are there, with modern, fit-for-purpose shops and the Enterprise Centre, which we hope will become the hub of the community. he existing shopkeepers have been informed and will get first refusal on the new units when they open next October..”

Coun Yusuf Jan-Virmani, executive member for neighbour-hoods, housing and customer services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “This development will provide modern premises which I am sure will be a real asset to the community.”