THE decision by Blackburn Council not to spend any of a £60,000 English Heritage cash grant on the Church Street Pavilions - instead favouring other listed buildings - is as regrettable as it is baffling.

One must accept the statement from development services officer Jane Reeve, in the Citizen article last week, that it would take much more than £60,000 to arrest and reverse the decay which the Pavilions have suffered over years of shameful neglect.

That is hardly the point. What IS the point is that the local authority, and similar organisations across the UK, have a duty to preserve our heritage before it disappears entirely under a layer of late 20th century, space age developments which have about as much character as a plastic bucket - and a similar amount of aesthetic appeal.

This newspaper applauds the efforts of local authorities to give much-needed face-lifts to town centres in East Lancashire. The millions being pumped into urban regeneration will boost trade and bring much-needed hope to an area starved of both for far too long. But must we pay the ultimate price of losing so many precious links with our past?

The Pavilions were a wonderful example of Georgian architecture before neglect turned them into a crumbling haven for assorted down and outs, drunks, and others from society's sad layers of undesirables.

Yet they represent an era which must be preserved if Blackburn is to retain any significant link with its splendid past.

Built in 1835/6, they are very early Victorian, in the Georgian style. They were designed as shops - the era's equivalent of a shopping mall. They were among the first such purpose-built properties in the town, linked by a now-demolished single storey, and were constructed of stone brought down the canal from Burnley.

Attempts to sell the Grade Two listed buildings have proved fruitless and the council, no doubt exasperated by the continuing eyesore near the cathedral in the town centre, seems determined to demolish the Pavilions.

Blackburn Civic Society is fighting a desperate rearguard action to save them, stressing that they stand out as rare examples of the town's Georgian period, so much of which has already been lost.

In our letters column today, one reader makes the interesting suggestion that perhaps students from the local college could be used to renovate the Pavilions as part of their practical training in the building and ancillary trades. A great idea it is, too.

Don't let the Pavilions die. A sum like £60,000 is a small price to pay to preserve and restore our heritage. It shouldn't need the Civic Society to press for action, the council should take the lead. Our local business community and forward-thinking enterprise schemes should be courted by the local authority - and have a large input in this challenging idea.

We don't REALLY want to become totally Plastic Space Age People now, do we?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.