HAVING in the past posed for his picture in Blackburn's flaky and forgotten Lord Square in order to stress how off-putting an unkempt appearance can be, the town hall's regeneration supremo, Councillor Ashley Whalley, now calls for at least some of the site - left out of the town's shopping precinct's mid-1990s upgrade - to be pulled down.

Good for him - though it may take a low-yield neutron bomb to have an improving effect on this example of 1960s concrete horror architecture that was foisted on Blackburn by the same planners who blighted Birmingham with its much-blasted Bull Ring Centre.

But I wonder if Coun Whalley realises that, in making this call and once more hoping to jolt the precinct owners, insurance giant Standard Life, into at last improving the eyesore spot after withdrawing an £18 million revamp plan for it last year, he is a now a soulmate of the man who was a prime opponent of the showpiece project he hoped would shame the company into action - namely, the multi-million-pound renovation and pedestrianisation of next-door Church Street.

For, only nine months ago, in these pages we had from hairdresser Jeff Stone, a veteran town-centre trader and leading figure of the Don't Shut Church Street campaign that was dismissed by the council, an intriguing suggestion that at least part of Lord Square should be knocked down and the place made the location of the town's three-day market - putting much of it back where it used to be until 1964 - and recreating the grand old Thwaites Arcade that used to link the spot with Church Street before the council had it pulled down to make way for more loo-like development around the now run-down square that it has now no real say over.

It was an idea that had particular appeal - in that the restored arcade would complement the old Pavilion buildings in Church Street which the council and officials of the nearby Cathedral see as a key component of the regeneration drive as the long-neglected, listed buildings are turned into an up-market bar-restaurant that, it is hoped, will lift the town centre's 'tone' and attract more similar investment.

Credit is due, then, to Mr Stone for enterprising thinking that, it seems, chimes considerably with the hopes of Coun Whalley for making Blackburn a better place to live, work and shop in.

But now that it seems that their minds think alike, what acknowledgement has Jeff had from Coun Whalley or anyone at the town hall nine long months on for his floating the idea?

None, I understand.

Can Coun Whalley, then, complain if his calls for action on improving Blackburn are ignored by the likes of Standard Life, if he himself ignores supporters of the town centre who offer imaginative advice - even when it apparently squares with his own thinking?