THE ANNOUNCEMENT today that store chain C&A is pulling out of Blackburn - coming on an already grim day for employment, with 85 job losses at the town's Netlon works - is a severe blow.

It is adverse at any time for a shopping centre to lose a key tenant of this stature.

But the forthcoming closure of the C&A store comes at a time when town-centres throughout the North West face the most serious threat yet to their prosperity.

For while the economies of town centres throughout the region have already been rendered fragile by the growth of out-of-town developments aimed at car-borne shoppers, the opening next week of the monster £600million Trafford Centre near Manchester poses a challenge out of all proportion to the competition they have faced until now.

With the three miles of shops at the Trafford Centre forecast to attract 30million people a year spending £13billion, it is evident that the so-called "deflection" of trade from the 27 North West towns in the new centre's catchment area will be considerable. Some estimates are that towns will see a fall in business of more than 20 per cent.

And, for Blackburn, this blow could make the task of reducing that impact all the more difficult, although C & A commendably say they will not close the store until they find another tenant.

Yet, this unfortunately-timed setback must be looked upon as a challenge by Standard Life, who own the rest of the precinct, and, in turn, by the town council.

They must do all they can to help attract a high-calibre replacement tenant and those town hall departments whose task it is to "sell" Blackburn to business and the outside world should facilitate these efforts.

For while the threat from the Trafford Centre cannot be ignored - and, indeed, has been met by East Lancashire traders backing the Centrepoint loyalty card scheme - it is one which Blackburn and others must resist, especially at the outset.

For while the crowds may flock to this new centre - and may fast diminish in view of the traffic nightmares that are predicted there - keeping our own town centres occupied and crowded with shoppers is a vital task now facing East Lancashire.

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