PART of the historic St John’s Court in Blackburn looks set to house drugs and alcohol services.

Bosses at Change Grow Live (CGL), which runs the Inspire project, has secured planning permission for the 19th century portion of the Ainsworth Street building.

Thirty-seven staff are expected to relocate from their current home in Exchange Street, a stone’s throw from Blackburn Town Hall, to the former home of the Refuge Assurance Company, in the Richmond Terrace Conservation Area.

Under the scheme the first floor, or upper ground floor, would deal with service users, with support staff being based on the third floor.

Andrew Hills, northern facilities lead for CGL, said in submissions: “There are no plans to change the internal physical structure of the walls or windows, only moving the current partition walls.

“There is no plan to make any alterations to the external façade of this elevation other than adding surface mounted discreet CCTV cameras, overlooking the entrances, and a small intercom panel to the right-hand door.”

Currently the doors only open inwards but officials want to reconfigure them to open out onto the street.

Mr Hills added: “We are proposing to use this building as a central hub for Blackburn residents, to deliver the integrated behaviour change service.

“The Blackburn hub will provide a range of clinical and therapeutic services, including recovery support to Blackburn residents and their families who may be concerned and affected by drug and/or alcohol.

“We feel that this building is an ideal central point for the hub and will offer optimum access from all areas within Blackburn and the surrounding areas.”

Medical and nursing interventions, alongside advice services, one-on-one treatment and group work is expected to be hosted there.

Council officials have been told that CGI considered a number of factors, before opting for St John’s Court, such as the availability of public transport, parking and how cost-effective the new premises might be.

Before now the offices had been used by customs and immigration officials so it was anticipated that some of the internal walls would need to be removed and its official usage redesignated.

Town planners have been told that a “welcoming” reception area and a wide array of meeting spaces would minimise the chances of service users “congregating” in the surrounding area.

The scheduled opening hours would be 8am to 8pm weekdays, with provisions also being made for some weekend working.

Inspire has been operational in Blackburn, and across East Lancashire, for around a decade now.

Their arrival in Exchange Street, in 2008, sparked controversy, after the service took over the former Lewis Textile Museum premises, closed two years earlier by the town hall as a cost-cutting measure.