PLANS to create two restaurants in a historic row of buildings at the heart of a £3.8million town centre heritage refurbishment will be debated on Thursday.

Councillors have been asked to approve the scheme for Blakey Moor Terrace in Blackburn.

It will create two units for restaurants or cafe/bars with outdoor seating areas in a courtyard at the rear.

Specially-designed character frontages will look out over the new public space opposite King George’s Hall.

The revamp of the terrace forms a key part of the next stage of the Blakey Moor Townscape Heritage project, part-financed by the National Lottery, to transform the mainly-Victorian Northgate side of the town centre into a leisure quarter of cafes, coffee houses and bars.

This has already seen the refurbishment of the former Baroque pub and creation of a new public space as well as the renovation of several other historic buildings.

The Blakey Moor Terrace scheme will be debated by Blackburn with Darwen Council's Planning and Highways Committee on Wednesday.

Cllr Phil Riley, the borough's regeneration boss, said: "This is a very important and exciting step forward for the project. It is a speculative development but will make it easier to then secure operators for these premises. The costs of this work are all included in the heritage lottery proposals."

His Conservative group shadow Cllr Paul Marrow said: "I welcome this. It shows that the townscape heritage project is moving ahead.

"We now want to know what happens next and how these restaurants will be used."

Blakey Moor Terrace,a row of two and three-storey premises with its ground floor used previously as shops and food outlets, is now fully in the ownership of Blackburn with Darwen Council.

It was built between 1848 and 1894 and has had a variety of offices on the upper storeys.

The planning application proposes the demolition of single-storey rear extensions and a garage while the basement and attics spaces will remain unoccupied.

It said: "Over time, the historic ground floor fabric has been eroded through incremental and unsympathetic shop front alterations. The upper floors remain largely intact and retain several heritage features to be refurbished and preserved."

The application adds: "Works to upgrade 11-27 Blakey Moor can only be seen as being an improvement to the appearance of the general street setting and will not harm its contribution to the significance of King Georges Hall."