A MAJOR donation is set to be agreed by county councillors for the £3.5million campaign to improve Blackburn Cathedral.

Cabinet members will be asked on Thursday to hand over £250,000 to the cathedral’s chapter.

The Church of England is aiming to improve the fabric of the former St Mary’s Church and the bulk of the County Hall investment is expected to be spent on modernisation work.

Elsewhere a second strand of the appeal is focusing on improving the cathedral’s choir and music provisions.

The third element centres on the institution’s community outreach work which saw the first Muslim – Anjum Anwar – appointed to such a Church of England post.

A county council report said: “The largest part of the monies raised will be invested into the upgrade of the cathedral fabric and this will be where the bulk of the county council’s donation will be used.

“However we will also negotiate with the cathedral to invest some of thedonation in activities under the other strands that benefit Lancashire residents.”

The money has been allocated to the cathedral appeal from the county council’s existing budget and talks will take place between the authority and church leaders about how exactly the investment will be spent.