A FED-UP market trader says the £20,000 Darwen millennium monument is being used as a "glorified picnic area" while townspeople wait for work to be completed.

Some stall holders claim they have never been consulted about the 'marker', which stands outside the market, and remain in the dark about its finished look.

Gillian Whelan, of Gilly's deli stall on the three-day market, said: "It is a glorified picnic area at the moment. People use it as somewhere to eat their lunch.

"It must be at least 12 months ago now that I first started asking about this monument and I still don't really know what it will be when it is finished. I've asked others in the market and they don't know either.

The monument has been funded by a £10,000 Millennium Commission grant and a £10,000 donation from Sainsbury's.

Work started on the project in April and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph printed details of the planned design. It is a bronze woven globe with a cross to mark 2000 years of history including the millennium's Christian significance.

The globe shape was chosen to reflect aspects of the mechanical age and the Industrial Revolution. A similar design is planned for Blackburn town centre.

When the circular base was laid there were complaints that its Latin inscription Absque Labore Nihil, taken from the town's coat of arms, had been switched around.

Mrs Whelan added: "Nothing has happened with it for ages. I think we deserve some answers." A Blackburn with Darwen Council spokesman said: "The Millennium marker was selected by a group made up of representatives from the local civic society and the council amongst others.

"Work has been done to lay the base for the Darwen globe so that the ground could be reinstated following the demolition of the former Darwen housing office.

"The globe is being made as we speak and will be installed in the autumn. It is a heavy construction and is being designed and constructed by an artist."