BLACKBURN with Darwen Council has paid out £10.5million in government grants to local businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

It expects to pay out a total of £46m to more than 4,000 businesses in Blackburn and Darwen that qualify for the grant funding.

Town Hall staff will be issuing payments twice a week.

Borough council growth boss Cllr Phil Riley said: "We fully understand that this is a very worrying time for businesses in the area, and our first priority is to support them as much as we can.

"We are working flat out to process these grants and businesses should see the money coming in very shortly.

"However we have also received hundreds of bogus claims, which has slowed down the process for legitimate businesses and their claims.”