COUNCILLORS will be asked next month to approve a new financial package and revised scheme for a major town centre leisure development.

It is the latest stage in the £21million project for Pioneer Place in Burnley.

The new phased version of the scheme to create an eight-screen cinema, together with five restaurants. shops and car parking, is scheduled for completion by spring 2023.

The new Labour executive of Burnley Council approved the latest financial package for the project which would see the Reel Cinema move from Manchester Road to the Curzon Street development site.

The original scheme was approved in late 2018 and has secured £3 million from Lancashire County Council and a further £3.6 million from the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership.

The council proposes to borrow money to help cover the remainder of the cost of the development and recover this from rental income from the cinema and a supermarket expected to occupy its former Manchester Road site.

Following the executive's approval, the financial package will be considered by a special meeting of Burnley's council on November 4 to give the revised project the final green light.

Council leader Councillor Mark Townsend said: “Burnley has a thriving shopping centre that serves our residents and brings in visitors from a wide area.

“Having a multi-screen cinema in the town centre, along with new restaurants, will help draw in even more people and provide a massive boost for the town centre economy.”

Cllr Gordon Birtwistle, leader of the council's Liberal Democrat group, said: "I am worried by the amount the council is borrowing for this and the long-term debt burden with no guarantees of getting it back."