THWAITES and Blackburn with Darwen Council are at loggerheads over the future of the brewery site in the heart of Blackburn.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has published its town centre supplementary planning document, which sets out ways the council manages the future evolution of the town centre and public facilities in the face of strong competition and changing pressures.

The document, which is expected to be formally adopted when the executive board meets on Thursday, also reveals preferred plans for a number of key town centre sites, including Thwaites brewery.

Council bosses say they would prefer the site to be a mixed use development with residential, leisure, restaurant and cafe, pubs and bars, and employment as their preferred choices.

But Thwaites representatives are unhappy the council do not want the land to be sold off for retail developments.

HOW Planning, on behalf of Thwaites, responded to the council’s consultation.

They said: “The site falls within the town centre boundary and is immediately adjacent to the main shopping area.

“Despite this, the preferred uses exclude some main town centre uses, most notably Class A1 retail.

“Despite the site being identified as a retail growth zone, suitable for both retail and leisure, the document does not promote retail use.

“There is a clear disconnect between the recommendations of recent research and the document.”

“In order for the document to plan positively for the future of the town centre we strongly believe that the site should be considered for comprehensive redevelopment with the former market site and demolished exchange, and class A1 retail should be a permitted use.”

But council officers say Thwaites falls outside the town’s primary shopping area and it would need to be proved the land could not be feasibly used for other types of development in order for permission to be granted for a retail development.

In a report to go before the board, borough regeneration boss Cllr Phil Riley said: “Blackburn with Darwen has some major positive assets including its landscape setting, urban green spaces and built heritage.

“We are pressing ahead with plans to capitalise on these assets and attract new housing investment to balance our housing market; but it will be important for this to be matched by an improvement in the area’s wider ‘offer’ – the overall range of facilities and opportunities available.

“Competition from other towns and from out-of-centre shopping outlets continues to grow stronger; and at the same time more and more shopping is done online.

“There is also the possibility that the steady growth in the amount of money people spend on shopping that we have seen in the past will not continue into the future.

“In response to these pressures, major restructuring has happened and is still happening in the retail sector, with a number of major operators ceasing to trade or substantially changing their business model.

“Operators are increasingly selective about where they choose to invest, and are highly focused on a town centre’s wider ‘offer’ to its customers, including aspects such as the mix of uses present in a centre, the quality of the physical environment, and management issues such as car parking regimes.

“Successful town centres are those which have responded to these issues and become a destination for more than simply shopping.

“Our key objective in managing development in the town centre is therefore to maintain progress and increase their competitiveness, and to broaden its function, beyond a traditional shopping focus, while managing any negative pressures that such change may bring.”