COUNCILLORS have given planning permission for the first development in a regeneration area opened up by a long-delayed £7million link road.

Home Bargains can now build a store a site along the highway linking Blackburn’s £12m ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ to the town centre.

The scale of the proposed development backs town hall bosses’ hopes that the Freckleton Street link road, now dubbed Wainwright Way, would attract jobs and businesses when it finally opened in February last year.

The planning application was approved on Thursday by Blackburn with Darwen Council's Planning and Highways Committee.

The development is expected to create 45 full-time and 35 part-time jobs, as well as others during construction.

The site is being developed by the Eric Wright Group.