A COUNCIL Conservative leader’s bid to call for a rethink on extending the lease for a £6.5million new cinema has been halted by a delay in giving him detailed information.
Cllr John Slater, a consistent critic of plans for the complex in Blackburn town centre, was angered by the decision of Blackburn with Darwen Council’s regeneration boss Cllr Phil Riley to extend the lease on the building from 20 to 25 years.
The local authority is paying for and will own the new building, on the site of the former Waves water fun centre in Nab Lane, and lease it back to Reel Cinemas.
Cllr Slater had ‘called in’ the decision to approve the lease extension and a special council meeting was scheduled for Monday night to review it.
But town hall staff failed to provide him with detailed and confidential financial information on the lease by his deadline of last night.
The documents were given to him today which he said was too late for him to prepare his case. 
He asked for a postponement of the meeting for a week which officials refused as the lease needs to be signed by by the end of next week.
Cllr Slater said this was too little time for him and has now pulled the hearing.
He said: “This is not good enough. I am not happy. In fact I am very angry and will be making complaints to the appropriate authorities."
Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Cllr Mohammed Khan said: “I am confident council officials provided the information as soon as possible to Cllr Slater. We offered him an extra day before the meeting which he refused. The lease has to be signed on Friday."
Cllr Slater had intended to question Cllr Riley’s claims that there is no additional risk to the council, that it will see an additional five years of rental income secured, and that the amendments to the lease reflect changes during the actual build. 
Cllr Slater’s statement for the meeting agenda said: “This decision has been presented with insufficient information.Robust scrutiny of this decision is essential if transparency is to be maintained and public opinion convinced that this project will not turn out to be an expensive failure.”
Cllr Riley said: “Extending the lease from 20 to 25 years means five years extra money for the council’s finances. What is not good about that?”