Driving through Blackburn the other day, I paused to look at the new buildings and the new additions and, sad to say, they are a bit of a disappointment.

They resemble cake boxes, filing cabinets or the concrete blocks of the communist East Germany before the wall came down.

There’s no sense of beauty or style and no sort of continuity with our town’s heritage, just a look of impermanence.

Will they be here in 100 years? I think not. We shall be lucky if they last 20 or 30.