A LEADING Darwen councillor has said he wants nothing to do with plans to spend £100,000 on celebrating the 150th anniversary of Blackburn borough.

Paul Browne, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Blackburn with Darwen Council, told a meeting of the executive committee that people in both towns would rather see the money spent on street cleaning.

The committee agreed to spend £100,000 on marking the anniversary, which falls in August 2001.

Ideas put forward so far include commemorative street art, festivals and exhibitions.

Coun Browne, a former mayor, said: "I don't see why we should spend £100,000 on this 150th anniversary when the borough of Blackburn doesn't exist any more.

"Darwen borough was got rid of in 1974 after 96 years, and I don't remember any plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Darwen being discussed.

"People would prefer to spend this money on street cleaning. This borough is like a tip in a lot of places. We are not the county borough of Blackburn any more."

Coun Ashley Whalley said that a repeat of this year's successful Darwen Music Festival was likely to be part of the celebrations and council leader Coun Malcolm Doherty stressed it would be a celebration for the whole borough.

Darwen had its own borough council from 1878 to 1974, when it was merged into the Blackburn borough under local government reorganisation. The council was renamed Blackburn with Darwen in 1998 when it moved out of Lancashire County Council control and became a unitary authority.