MERGING coroner’s services has gone better than expected, senior councillors heard.

The former senior coroner for Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, Michael Singleton, retired at the end of June last year.

Following his decision to retire, Blackburn with Darwen Council originally asked the Ministry of Justice to consider replacing Mr Singleton.

But MoJ officials decided to use the opportunity to merge the Preston & West Lancashire, East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen coronial areas in a bid to save cash.

Council executive board members have been updated on the progress of the merger.

Council leader Cllr Mohammed Khan said he had been worried the service would suffer when the merger was decided on.

But he said the first year had been a success and feedback from bereaved families had been positive.

Cllr Andy Kay added: “The satisfaction level seems to be going up and despite the worries one or two members had about how it would progress, there are signs of improvement in the service itself.”

The then-Blackburn with Darwen coroner area was jointly funded by Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council.

Ultimately it was accepted that a merger between all three coronial areas would support the chief coroner’s aim for an area to deal with a minimum of 3,000 deaths per year and reduce the number of part-time senior coroners.

A consultation was carried out and Blackburn with Darwen Council sought assurances that services would be provided which ensured local cultural and community and in particular religious needs and expectations would be a feature of the services provided to citizens of the borough.

The council says the merger will over time produce significant savings.

A report updating members on progress since the merger was presented to the council’s executive board on Thursday.

It states: “At the time it was not possible to identify with certainty what the level of savings would be (and indeed work continues) however initial estimates last year suggested savings in the region of £300,000 per annum (of which £150,000 would be a saving for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council).

“These saving were estimated to be potentially deliverable in 2018/19 given all the transitional and other related change costs during 2018/19.

“Experience to date now indicates that these savings may take 1.5-2 years to fully achieve (so may slip into 19/20).”

Following the merger, senior coroner for Preston and West Lancashire, Dr James Adeley, was subsequently appointed as the senior coroner for the new revised jurisdiction of Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.

Over the last 12 months the coroner's service has moved administratively to Preston from the former base in Blackburn Business Centre, and the inquests have moved into Blackburn Town Hall unless there are reasons otherwise.

Long inquests in East Lancashire were regularly held at Burnley Magistrates Court.

Long Blackburn inquests have been relocated to the Preston Coroner’s Court.