TODAY'S news that Blackburn's long-awaited cinema and leisure complex is finally to get off the ground is well timed.

The complex, which includes a health club with swimming pool as well as a ten screen cinema and bowling alley, was granted planning permission 16 months ago.

Now work is now finally to start in August and be completed next year.

The project will transform an area of the town centre between the railway station and Audley that has been a patch of derelict wasteland for too long.

It will also, along with other recently announced ventures like the planned soccerdome and existing facilities like Waves, give the town the range of sporting and leisure facilities that a borough like Blackburn with Darwen richly deserves.

In the same week that Church Street is officially opened and work on the Pavilions has succeeded in transforming a real eyesore into something to be proud of, the council has shown that it has got the wheel turning in the right direction.

True there are plenty of other problems to be tackled - like boosting the fortunes of the town's market - but Blackburn has long needed a more vibrant town centre with attractions that will pull in families at evenings and weekends.

And this project is a big step forward towards a town centre we can all be proud of.